A psychiatry consultation is an appointment with a psychiatric provider(s) to obtain his/her medical opinion on a specific case. In a liaison consultation, a general practitioner or attending physician consults with a psychiatric provider with regards to the treatment and management of patients suffering from medical conditions. This consultation links general medicine and psychiatry. At the end of the consultation, the psychiatric provider will provide a diagnosis followed by treatment recommendations. There are two types of psychiatric consultations: simple and comprehensive.
- A simple psychiatric consultation takes two to three sessions. In order to make this short period of time as productive as possible, please gather together all of your records and recollections of previous treatments before the first session. Part of this process includes filling out a comprehensive patient survey.
- A comprehensive psychiatric consultation takes at least four or five sessions. It may also involve time speaking with previous care providers or other clinicians who cared for the patient. Generally, there is some staff time to gather medical records. Also, staff may chart this information graphically so that we can identify patterns of response or partial response (in a Life Chart). Gathering and analyzing this information may take many hours.
Provide recommendations to primary care clinics, counseling clinics, hospitals, home health agencies, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. For more information about this service, please contact our office.