Five-Year Outcomes Following Psychiatric Consultation to a Tertiary Care Emergency Room

• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.160.7.1350
• Publication Date: 2003-06-29T18:14:13Z
• Authors: Michael T. Lambert; James P. LePage; Andrew L. Schmitt
• Keywords: Hospitals, Psychiatric; Male; Hospitals, Veterans; Substance-Related Disorders; Mental Disorders; Middle Aged; United States; 3. Good health; Hospitalization; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); Outcome Assessment, Health Care; Humans; Female; Prospective Studies; Emergency Service, Hospital; Referral and Consultation; Follow-Up Studies

The authors prospectively examined inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and mortality rates of psychiatric patients seen in the emergency room of a large Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.Charts of 504 patients receiving evening psychiatric consultation during a 13-month period were assessed 5 years after the consultation to determine rates of psychiatric hospitalization and mortality.Patients with multiple psychiatric diagnoses, including comorbid addiction disorders, had significantly higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization 5 years after an emergency room visit. Comorbid psychiatric disorders increased the rate of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization across diagnoses. Seventy-eight patients died during the study period.These findings reveal relationships between diagnostic profiles and future psychiatric hospitalization and mortality rates. This information could focus psychiatric and medical interventions for high-risk patients.