Objective: Factors influencing the practice of psychiatric consultation-liaison (CL) were analyzed. Methods: All 116 psychiatrists trained in two Brazilian medical schools were contacted by telephone, invited to participate in the study and then interviewed. Results: 106 (91%) doctors were interviewed; 51% were male. One third had carried out CL only during psychiatric training, 37% were working with CL at the time of the interview, and 30% had had experience with CL after the psychiatric training, but stopped afterward. Among those working with CL, there was a prevalence of men (64%, chi-square=6.65; p=0.03). Only 6% mentioned inadequate training as one of the reasons for not pursuing working with CL. The most frequently reported difficulties were: the amount of time needed, the unpredictable nature of the psychiatric consultation requests, low pay for the work, and lack ofappraisal of CL practiceby other medical colleagues. Conclusions: 37% of the interviewed doctors worked with CL. In spite of the adequate training received during medical residency, they had to cope with their lack of time, low pay, and their colleagues' low appraisal of CL.
Psychiatric consultation; General Hospital; Health personnel
