Psychopathology in Medical Inpatients and its Relationship to Length of Hospital Stay: A Pilot Study

A composite screening instrument measuring depression, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, and pain identified 40 percent of a sample of general medical inpatients (30% of total patients before exclusions) as having significant psychopathology or pain, a reasonable number based on clinical incidence lit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of psychiatry in medicine 1986-01, Vol.16 (3), p.231-236
Main Authors: Levenson, James L., Hamer, Robert, Silverman, Joel J., Rossiter, Louis F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety Disorders - psychology
Cognition Disorders - psychology
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Female
Hospitalization
Humans
Length of Stay
Male
Middle Aged
Pain
Pain - psychology
Psychopathology
Psychophysiologic Disorders - psychology
Sick Role
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A composite screening instrument measuring depression, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, and pain identified 40 percent of a sample of general medical inpatients (30% of total patients before exclusions) as having significant psychopathology or pain, a reasonable number based on clinical incidence literature. These identified patients' hospital length of stay did not differ from the length of stay for other patients. The screen identified 21 percent as very depressed, 19 percent as very anxious, 15 percent as having cognitive dysfunction, and 11 percent with high pain levels. Depression, anxiety, and pain frequently occurred together. Further study is required to refine the instrument and assess its effectiveness at targeting patients for psychiatric intervention.
ISSN:0091-2174
1541-3527
DOI:10.2190/K51B-H0VH-CF2K-D0WJ