Psychiatry NCHD referrals to the local emergency department in the context of an in-house primary care service.
Loading...
Authors
Carey, C
Doody, E
McCafferty, R
Madden, M
Clendennen, N
Lyons, D
Issue Date
2020-08-06
Type
Review
Journal Article
Journal Article
Language
en
Keywords
Emergency department , NCHDs , in-house primary care , psychiatric hospital , transfers
Alternative Title
Abstract
Patients with psychiatric illness are at increased risk of developing non-psychiatric medical illnesses. There have been positive reports regarding the integration of primary care services into mental health facilities. Here, we evaluate the appropriateness of psychiatry non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHD) transfers to the local emergency department (ED) in the context of an in-house primary care service.
We reviewed the inpatient transfers from St Patrick's University Hospital (SPUH) to the local ED at St James' Hospital (SJH) from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. We used inpatient admission to SJH as our primary marker of an appropriate transfer.
246 inpatients were transferred from SPUH to the SJH ED for medical review in the years 2016 and 2017. 27 (11%) of these were referred to the ED by the primary care service. 51% of those referred were admitted with similar rates of admission for both general practitioner ( = 27, 54% admitted) and NCHD initiated referrals ( = 219, 51% admitted). Acute neurological illness, concern regarding a cardiac illness, and deliberate self-harm were the most common reasons for referral.
Our primary finding is that, of those transferred to ED by either primary care or a psychiatry NCHD, a similar proportion was judged to be in need of inpatient admission. This indicates that as a group, psychiatry NCHD assessment of acuity and need for transfer was similar to that of their colleagues in primary care.
We reviewed the inpatient transfers from St Patrick's University Hospital (SPUH) to the local ED at St James' Hospital (SJH) from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. We used inpatient admission to SJH as our primary marker of an appropriate transfer.
246 inpatients were transferred from SPUH to the SJH ED for medical review in the years 2016 and 2017. 27 (11%) of these were referred to the ED by the primary care service. 51% of those referred were admitted with similar rates of admission for both general practitioner ( = 27, 54% admitted) and NCHD initiated referrals ( = 219, 51% admitted). Acute neurological illness, concern regarding a cardiac illness, and deliberate self-harm were the most common reasons for referral.
Our primary finding is that, of those transferred to ED by either primary care or a psychiatry NCHD, a similar proportion was judged to be in need of inpatient admission. This indicates that as a group, psychiatry NCHD assessment of acuity and need for transfer was similar to that of their colleagues in primary care.
Description
Citation
Carey, C., Doody, E., McCafferty, R., Madden, M., Clendennen, N., & Lyons, D. (2023). Psychiatry NCHD referrals to the local emergency department in the context of an in-house primary care service. Irish journal of psychological medicine, 40(2), 262–266. https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2020.82
Publisher
License
Journal
Irish journal of psychological medicine
Volume
40
Issue
2
PubMed ID
ISSN
2051-6967