Consultative psychiatry in both private and public general hospitals.

Most psychiatric patients obtain care in the nonpsychiatric units of general hospitals. Two groups of 100 psychiatric consultation patients in a private hospital setting and in a public hospital were compared. Significant differences were found. Patients in the public hospital were medically, psychiatrically, and socioeconomically more disabled. In the private setting, psychiatric consultants were usually seen as members of a treatment team. The public facility expected consultants to function as psychiatric triage officers. However, both patient groups had a similar frequency of psychiatric illness and had an equal need for psychiatric services.