A Comparison of Care Given by Family Practitioners and Psychiatrists in a Teaching Hospital Psychiatric Unit
K. I. PEARCE M.D.1
1 Professor and head, division of psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary 44, Alta., Canada, and director, department of psychiatry, Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alta.
The author compared a group of psychiatric inpatients treated by general practitioners with a group treated by psychiatrists in a general hospital. The groups differed little except that the one treated by psychiatrists was sicker, more chronic, and had a longer inpatient stay during follow-up. He concludes that in a general hospital where psychiatric consultation is available general practitioners can treat psychiatric patients as successfully as psychiatrists.
