Pattern and Prevalence of Psychiatric Consultations in Other Non-Psychiatric In-Patient Facilities in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH): A 5-Year Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/tnhj.v14i1.129Keywords:
Pattern, Prevalence, Psychiatric Consultations, UPTHAbstract
Background: The tendency of other medical conditions to comorbid or present with psychiatric complications is on the increase. Several studies have put the prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidity with medical conditions at about 10- 20%, with an unmatched diagnostic ability by most clinicians. This has resulted in poor management and unfavorable outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern and prevalence of psychiatric co¬morbidity with other medical conditions in other non-psychiatric wards in UPTH.
Methods: Approval for the study was obtained from the ethical committee of the hospital. A record was kept of all the consultations to psychiatry from every other unit in the hospital over 5 years. Both the psychiatric and non-psychiatric diagnoses made were all noted. Cases selected included any clinical conditions with comorbid psychiatric disorders while patients with only psychiatric diagnosis seen especially in the Accident and Emergency Department were all excluded from the study. The cases were reviewed by consultant neuropsychiatrists and psychiatric diagnoses were made using the DSM-IV TR diagnostic criteria. The total admissions in each unit of the hospital over the period under review were also determined.
Results: The study showed that out of a total admission of 54,745 in the entire clinical department within the period, 3217 consultations (representing 5.9%) were made to psychiatry. Out of this figure, 2778 cases of psychiatric co-morbidities were diagnosed, (representing 86.4% of total consultations). This shows a prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity (consultations) of 5.1%. (p=0.0001, Chi value= 3330.10). Internal Medicine was the highest, 604(22%) followed by Surgery with 496 (17%), Accident and Emergency, 320(12%), Obstetrics and Gynaecology 280(10%), Orthopaedic 267(9%), Burns and Plastics 266(9%), Paediatrics 244 (9%), Ophthalmology 147(5.3%), ENT 102(4%) and ICU the least with 27(1%). The observed differences in psychiatric consultations among the department were statistically significant (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity is 5.1% in UPTH. There is need for sensitization among clinicians to increase their clinical acumen to enable them recognizes cases requiring psychiatric attention, in addition to increasing their willingness to make necessary and timely consultations and / or referrals.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 The Nigerian Health Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. In line with our open access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution License policy authors are allowed to share their work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
TNHJ also supports open access archiving of articles published in the journal after three months of publication. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g, in institutional repositories or on their website) within the stated period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). All requests for permission for open access archiving outside this period should be sent to the editor via email to editor@tnhjph.com.
