2008/01/01 by Jenny Dale, Eman Sorour, Gabrielle Milner · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Medicine · Health Professions · #Mental Health and Psychiatry #Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments #Healthcare cost, quality, practices
paper · doi:10.1080/09638230701498325
openalex publication_date 2008/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
Background: Mental disorder and physical health are intimately linked. However, research indicates that psychiatrists are often unclear about their role in caring for the physical health of their patients.Aims and Method: This study aimed to find out whether psychiatrists perform appropriate physical examinations and investigations for their patients. To investigate this, a case-note review was conducted of 50 newly referred consecutive adult inpatients and 50 newly referred consecutive adult outpatients.Results: 80% of the inpatients had routine haematological investigations performed compared with 6% of the outpatients. 62% of the inpatients had a full physical examination compared with 0% of the outpatient group. Overall the level of record keeping was poor, in particular where physical examinations or investigations were omitted.Clinical implications: This study showed a poor level of consideration of basic physical examinations and investigations for psychiatric patients, particularly in the outpatient setting. Psychiatrists have a duty to ensure that the basic healthcare needs of their patients are met and should not assume that this is the sole responsibility of the general practitioner.Declaration of interest: None.