Evaluation of 294 psychiatric consultations involving in‐patients above 70 years of age in somatic departments in a university hospital

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Abstract
The integrated geropsychiatric service of the Psychiatric Department of the University Hospital in Linköping consists of an observation ward, a day unit and an out‐patient unit. One of the main tasks of the last‐mentioned unit is to provide geropsychiatric consultations for in‐patients in the non‐psychiatric departments of the hospital. During the first 2 years from October 1982 to October 1984 300 consultations were performed. The consultations included registration of social, medical and psychiatric data, a psychiatric examination, discussions with the staff and a psychiatric report. Out of the total number of 300 consultations 294 could be evaluated completely. They comprised 247 individuals. The evaluation was performed after the first 2 years by screening the patients’ psychiatric records and reports and by computer‐analysis of 89 variables covering medical as well as social data. The patients’ mean age was 78 years and 52% were treated in the Department of Internal Medicine. Fifty‐three percent had had previous psychiatric contacts. Many were suffering from serious somatic diseases and 22% from depressive states. Only 9% showed no signs of psychiatric disorders. Twenty‐three percent of the patients were transferred to the geropsychiatric observation ward or day unit and only 3% were recommended to be certified and transferred to a mental hospital. Pertinent findings are discussed in the light of international data on geropsychiatric consultations and liaison psychiatry. The study shows the importance of providing special geropsychiatric consultations for in‐patients in somatic departments as a part of an integrated geropsychiatric service.

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