Psychiatric Morbidity and Patterns of Inpatient Referral to the Consultation-Liaison Unit of Jos University Teaching Hospital, North-Central Nigeria

The study of the pattern of inpatients referral to consultation-liaison unit is important as significant proportion of patients with physical illnesses also suffer from psychiatric disorder. It will help in designing better consultation-liaison services that is geared toward holistic health care. The study was aimed at determining the psychiatric morbidity, referral patterns and sociodemographic profiles of in-patients referred to consultation-liaison unit of Jos University Teaching Hospital. It was a descriptive prospective study of all consenting patients. A total of 142 patients were referred to consultation-liaison unit during the study period of August 2014 to July 2015. The referral rate was 1.7%. The mean age+SD of referred patients was 38+16.59 years. There were more females 84(59.2%) than males 58(40.8%). Among the referred patients majority had secondary education 60(42.3%) and were never-married 67(47.2%). The major source of referral 97(68.3%) was from medical ward and reasons for referral were; to help in management 68.3%, previous psychiatric contact 12.0% and abnormal behavior 10.6%. The predominant psychiatric diagnoses using ICD-10 criteria were depression 27(19.0%), acute organic brain syndrome 18(12.7%), alcohol dependence 15(10.6%) and puerperal psychosis/depression 12(8.5%). Co-morbid physical conditions were present in 123(86.6%) mainly, infections 25(17.6%), retroviral infections 18(12.7%), neurological conditions 8(5.6%), trauma/head injury 13(9.2%) and cardiovascular diseases 12(8.5%). The low referral rate and reasons for referral revealed the referring physicians scope of the understanding of psychiatry. Therefore, clinicians should be adequately exposed to basic knowledge of psychiatry and should be able to recognize common psychiatric conditions and referred appropriately for a holistic healthcare.