Diagnostic concordance in consultation liaison psychiatry – Referring physicians to psychiatrists

Abstract

Psychiatric co-morbidity in patients with physical illness is known to influence the course and outcome of both conditions. Consultation liaison psychiatry [CLP] can be regarded as an essential service between psychiatry and other medical specialties. Efficient communication between different levels of care is known to have an impact on the quality of health care. To study the patterns of referrals to the department of psychiatry and diagnostic concordance between referring physicians to CL-Psychiatrist.The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Psychiatry of a tertiary care hospital. All the patients referred to the Psychiatry department for 4 months were taken after excluding referrals sent for disability assessment. Socio-demographic details, source of referral, reason for referral, and the psychiatric diagnosis by both the referring doctor and CL-psychiatrist were recorded. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 25.0 software and kappa value was used to estimate the diagnostic concordance.In the sample of 100 referrals studied, the mean age of the sample was 40.96±13.42 years. The majority of the cases referred were inpatients (61%), from the department of general medicine and allied branches (85%), (General medicine -55, Neurology- 21). The most common diagnosis was alcohol dependence syndrome 24 (24%), followed by depression (18%) and phobic anxiety (18%).The concordance of the diagnosis between the referral and the psychiatry team was in perfect agreement (κ=0.81- 1.00) for paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, delirium, dissociative disorder, delusional disorder, and alcohol dependence syndrome. Very low concordance was observed in diagnosing obsessive-compulsive disorder (k=0) and adjustment disorder (k=0).The overall diagnostic concordance was poor for adjustment disorder, OCD, and vascular dementia, and good for paranoid schizophrenia, delirium, dissociative disorder, delusional disorder, and BPAD.