Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1250-1253
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Consultees' representations of consultants' psychiatric diagnoses
AL Callies, MK Popkin, TB Mackenzie and J Mitchell
In an attempt to characterize consultees' representations of consultants'
psychiatric dagnoses, the authors reviewd the medical records from 190
psychiatric consultations in a general hopsital. Using specific outcome
criteria, they rated 50% of representations as concordant and 39% as
nonconcordant. Five variable,s icluding the primary medical diagnosis at
discharge and the referring service, were significantly related to
concordance. Surprisinlgy, concordance was independent of the psychiatric
diagnosis, indicating theat consultees did not respond differentially to
varying magnitudes and implications of the different disorders. This work
raises the question of possible strategies to improve receptivity to
psychiatric diagnoses in the consultation setting.
