Is communication improving between general practitioners and psychiatrists?

Abstract

General pracddoaen aad psychiatrlst1 commwllcate llllainly by letter. To 1certaia. the mot hnpot lteau of information that lhould be lncluded in tbne letters key items) questlomaatre. were 9Clll to 80 1encnll pracddonen and 80 psycbiatrlsts. A total of 120 referral letters KD.t to paycblatrlc cliDl.cs ID 1973 -d 1983 were: studied, together with the psychlatrlsu replln, and tbe9C were rated for the lnclusio11 of key ltenu. General practltloaen letten contain leu Information about the family but more about psycbiatrle history tbaD they did decade ago. Overall. JNIYchlatl'bb' letters have not chanpd. Reglstran, however, aow Include notlccably more key lteau thaa they did 10 ycan 10, but their let.ten remain twice the leasth of tbo9e writt­by cOIQlult-lll. It 11 1ugrened that letter wrldq 9kUb are vital to pod patient maaapment -d 1bould be taqht to lp aduate tralnen ID pneral practice a ad psychiatry. © 1985, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.