Feasibility of Hospitalized Treatment of Inpatients' Mental Disorders in General Hospitals

  Objective  To analyze the feasibility of hospitalized treatment of inpatients' mental disorders in a general hospital by an innovative consultation-liaison psychiatric hospitalized treatment mode.

  Methods  Retrospective study involved the patients in the department of physical diseases of Peking Union Medical College Hospital who received hospitalized treatment in the Department of Psychological Medicine from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021(study group). All patients who received consultation-liaison psychiatry (CLP) services by Department of Psychological Medicine from January 1 to December 31 in 2019 were taken as the control group. The control group conducted liaison consultation and invited consultation based on the CLP concept, whereas the study group integrated a three-level check-in and follow-up system based on the CLP concept to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of inpatient mental disorders through consultation and follow-up. According to the consultation records, the diagnosis results and intervention methods were extracted, and the consultation rate and follow-up rate were calculated.

  Results  A total of 1196 patients (1647 times of consultation) were included in the study group and 1269 patients (1558 times of consultation) in control group. The consultation departments involved all the physical disease departments of the hospital. Compared with the control group, in the study group the general consultation rate1.21%(1196/98 496) vs. 1.10%(1269/114 917), the general follow-up rate23.08%(276/1196) vs. 17.65%(224/1269) were improved to varying degrees. The diagnosis results of consultation-liaison hospitalized treatment involved almost all mental disorders, among which anxiety disorder (18.76%, 309/1647), depressive disorder (17.1%, 282/1647) and brain organic mental disorder (16.45%, 271/1647) accounted for a high proportion. As for the intervention mode of patients, 30.66% (505/1647) only needed psychological counseling or treatment, and almost all patients had non-drug treatment intervention.

  Conclusion  It is feasible for general hospitals to realize hospitalized treatment of mental disorders based on CLP concept, combined with three-level ward round and follow-up system, which can improve the accessibility of mental medical services.