Controversies in consultation-liaison psychiatry

Specialized Biopsychosocial Care in Inpatient Somatic Medicine Units-A Pilot Study

Introduction

Specialized biopsychosocial care concepts are necessary to overcome the dualism between physical and psychosocial treatment in acute care hospitals. For patients with complex and chronic comorbid physical and mental health problems, neither standardized psychiatric/psychosomatic nor somatic care units alone are appropriate to their needs. The “Nuremberg Integrated Psychosomatic Acute Unit” (NIPA) has been developed to integrate treatment of both, psychosocial and physical impairments, in an acute somatic care setting.

Method

NIPA has been established in inpatient internal medical wards for respiratory medicine, oncology and gastroenterology. One to two patients per ward are regularly enrolled in the NIPA treatment while remaining in the same inpatient bed after completion of the somatic care. In a naturalistic study design, we evaluated treatment effects by assessment of symptom load at admission and at discharge using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7). Furthermore, we assessed the severity of morbidity using diagnosis data during treatment. At discharge, we measured satisfaction with treatment through the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (ZUF-8).

Results

Data from 41 NIPA patients were analyzed (18–87 years, 76% female). Seventy-eight percent suffered from at least moderate depression and 49% from anxiety disorders. Other diagnoses were somatoform pain disorder, somatoform autonomic dysfunction, eating disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Hypertension, chronic lung diseases and musculoskeletal disorders as well as chronic oncological and cardiac diseases were the most common somatic comorbidities. Treatment resulted in a significant reduction of depressive mood (admission: M = 10.9, SD = 6.1, discharge: M = 7.6, SD = 5.3, d = 0.58, p = 0.001), anxiety (admission: M = 10.6, SD = 4.9, discharge: M = 7.3, SD = 4.1, d = 0.65, p< 0.001) and stress (admission: M = 6.0, SD = 3.6, discharge: M = 4.1, SD = 2.5, d = 0.70, p< 0.001). Somatic symptom burden was reduced by NIPA treatment (admission: M = 10.9, SD = 5.8, discharge: M = 9.6, SD = 5.5, d = 0.30), albeit not statistically significant (p = 0.073) ZUF-8 revealed that 89% reported large or full satisfaction and 11% partial dissatisfaction with treatment.

Discussion

NIPA acute care is bridging the gap for patients in need of psychosocial treatment with complex somatic comorbidity. Further long-term evaluation will show whether psychosocial NIPA care is able to reduce the course of physical illness and hospital costs by preventing hospitalization and short-term inpatient re-admissions.

Comment mieux valoriser notre activité en psychiatrie de liaison ?

La cooccurrence des troubles somatiques et psychiatriques est très fréquente chez les patients admis à l’hôpital général. Il en découle des augmentations des risques de morbi-mortalité et des surcoûts liés à la complexité des soins [1]. Ces patients nécessitent des prises en charge multidisciplinaire ou le rôle du psychiatre de liaison-consultation joue un rôle important. Les effets bénéfiques de ces prises en charge a été démontré notamment en termes de durée moyenne de séjour. Cependant, ces études soulèvent beaucoup d’interrogation notamment concernant le critère principal d’évaluation. Ainsi par exemple certaines études, se sont intéressées au niveau de satisfaction des praticiens somaticiens et des patients ainsi qu’à leurs attentes. Ces difficultés découlent également du fait que les classifications psychiatriques usuelles (DSM et CIM) apparaissent souvent comme insuffisantes pour décrire les comorbidités psychiatriques chez les patients hospitalisés à l’hôpital général [2]. Certains groupes d’experts ont par conséquent proposé quelques catégories nosographiques plus proches de la réalité de la pratique de la psychiatrie de liaison [3]. Dans cette revue, seront abordés les éléments de valorisation de l’activité de psychiatrie de liaison. Ces éléments sont : le bien-être des patients, l’intégration des psychiatres dans les équipes multidisciplinaires et les aspects médico-économiques.