Consultees' representations of consultants' psychiatric diagnoses

In an attempt to characterize consultees' representations of consultants' psychiatric diagnoses, the authors reviewed the medical records from 190 psychiatric consultations in a general hospital. Using specific outcome criteria, they rated 50% of representations as concordant and 39% as nonconcordant. Five variables, including the primary medical diagnosis at discharge and the referring service, were significantly related to concordance. Surprisingly, concordance was independent of the psychiatric diagnosis, indicating that consultees did not respond differentially to varying magnitudes and implications of the different disorders. This work raises the question of possible strategies to improve receptivity to psychiatric diagnoses in the consultation setting.