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Some studies suggest intensive psychiatric consultation services facilitate medical care and reduce length of stay (LOS) in general hospitals.

To compare LOS between a consultation-as-usual model and a proactive consultation model involving review of all admissions, rapid consultation, and close follow-up.

LOS was compared in an ABA design between a 33-day intervention period and 10 similar control periods, 5 before and 5 after the intervention, on an internal medical unit. During the intervention period, a staff psychiatrist met with the medical team each weekday, reviewed all admissions, provided immediate consultation as needed, and followed all cases throughout their hospital stay.

Time required for initial case review was brief, 2.9 ± 2.2 minutes per patient (mean ± S.D.). Over 50% of admissions had mental health needs: 20.3% were estimated to require specialist …