New Potential Clinical Indicators of Consultation–Liaison Psychiatry's Effectiveness in Brazilian General Hospitals

The authors identified patients’ subjective well-being (SWB), relatives’ satisfaction with their information needs, and the medical team's difficulty in helping patients, as potential indicators of effectiveness of consultation–liaison psychiatry. A random sampling of 74 beds was carried out (1 bed = 1 patient + 1 relative + 1 nurse + 1 physician). There were negative correlations between SWB and anxious and depressive symptoms, and positive correlations with nurses’ difficulty in helping patients and patients’ depressive symptoms, nurses’ difficulty in helping patients and their perception about anxious and depressive symptoms; and physicians’ difficulty in helping patients and their perception about anxious and depressive symptoms. Patients’ SWB and difficulty in helping them constituted potential indicators in consultation–liaison psychiatry, whereas relatives’ satisfaction did not.