Adherence by Medical-Surgical Inpatients to Recommendations for Outpatient Psychiatric Treatment

A records review of medical-surgical inpatients at a university hospital reveals that only 20% of patients seen in psychiatric consultation followed recommendations to seek psychiatric outpatient treatment. The study is unique in that immediate appointments with the consulting psychiatrists were offered prior to patients' discharge. The low rate is similar to the findings by others. Diagnosis of depression was associated with patients agreeing to psychiatric treatment. Race was significantly associated with patients' keeping appointments, although social class may have been an indirect factor. Transformation of the medical-surgical inpatient to psychiatric outpatient remains a poorly understood process.