Psychiatric Patients in the General Hospital Casualty Service

Abstract

Data are presented regarding the psychiatric patients seen in the Casualty-Emergency Service of the Winnipeg General Hospital during a fifteen-day period, and this group is compared with the general casualty intake, and to a lesser extent with the population of the area served. The psychiatric patients had a higher proportion of: 1) admissions to hospital 2) females 3) persons aged 40 - 49 4) persons divorced or legally separated 5) newcomers to the Province 6) visits between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. In the psychiatric group there was a preponderance of women among those diagnosed as neurotic and of men among those diagnosed as alcoholic. These findings are discussed and compared with those in the literature.