TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychiatric referrals
T2 - In primary care and general hospitals in Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia
AU - Qureshi, Naseem A.
AU - Al-Habeeb, Tariq A.
AU - Al-Ghamdy, Yasser S.
AU - Magzoub, Mohi M.
AU - Schmidt, Henk
PY - 2001/7
Y1 - 2001/7
N2 - Objective: From different perspectives, psychiatric symptoms have special significance in psychiatry. This study comparatively describes the psychopathological symptoms as noted in primary care (402) and general hospital (138) referrals. Methods: Five hundred and forty psychiatric referrals, retrieved randomly, were reviewed extensively for collecting relevant data. Results: Both hospital and primary care referrals were observed to have a variety of psychological and somatic symptoms of variable frequencies, which were suggestive of several psychopathological domains. Functional psychotic (19.5% versus 10%), mood (27.5% versus 23%) and psychosomatic (7% versus 2%) symptoms were significantly noted in hospital referrals as compared to primary care referrals while the later were observed to have significantly more somatic (34.5% versus 22.5%) and neurological (8% versus 4%) symptoms. Only a small proportion of primary care referrals (33/402, 8%] have symptoms of childhood psychiatric disorders. Conclusion: Psychiatric symptomatology differs in primary care and general hospital referrals. Both the general practitioners and clinicians are expected to record psychiatric symptoms in a comprehensive manner. Hence, they need condensed training courses on psychiatric symptomatology.
AB - Objective: From different perspectives, psychiatric symptoms have special significance in psychiatry. This study comparatively describes the psychopathological symptoms as noted in primary care (402) and general hospital (138) referrals. Methods: Five hundred and forty psychiatric referrals, retrieved randomly, were reviewed extensively for collecting relevant data. Results: Both hospital and primary care referrals were observed to have a variety of psychological and somatic symptoms of variable frequencies, which were suggestive of several psychopathological domains. Functional psychotic (19.5% versus 10%), mood (27.5% versus 23%) and psychosomatic (7% versus 2%) symptoms were significantly noted in hospital referrals as compared to primary care referrals while the later were observed to have significantly more somatic (34.5% versus 22.5%) and neurological (8% versus 4%) symptoms. Only a small proportion of primary care referrals (33/402, 8%] have symptoms of childhood psychiatric disorders. Conclusion: Psychiatric symptomatology differs in primary care and general hospital referrals. Both the general practitioners and clinicians are expected to record psychiatric symptoms in a comprehensive manner. Hence, they need condensed training courses on psychiatric symptomatology.
KW - Psychiatric referrals
KW - Psychiatry training
KW - Psychopathological symptoms
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M3 - Article
C2 - 11479646
AN - SCOPUS:0442307534
SN - 0379-5284
VL - 22
SP - 619
EP - 624
JO - Saudi Medical Journal
JF - Saudi Medical Journal
IS - 7
ER -