Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that proactive psychiatric consultation reduces hospital length of stay (LOS) in the general medical setting; however this model has not been studied in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Objective: To compare outcomes between a conventional consultation model and a proactive psychiatric consultation model.
Methods: Two medical ICUs (MICUs) were randomized to proactive psychiatric consultation vs conventional consultation psychiatric models. Proactive consultation included embedding a psychiatrist into daily MICU team rounds on all patients. In the conventional consultation MICU, psychiatric consultations were activated when deemed necessary. Primary outcomes were hospital LOS and MICU LOS. Secondary outcomes included delirium-coma-free hours and ventilator-free hours.
Results: A total of 429 patients were admitted to the proactive consultation MICU; 393 patients were admitted to the conventional consultation MICU. The consultation rate for the intervention group was 24.2% vs 6.1% in the control group (p < 0.001). Time to psychiatric consultation was shorter in the intervention group. Median hospital LOS was 6.92 days, interquartile range 3.70-14.31 in the intervention group vs 7.69 days, interquartile range 3.95-16.21 in the control group (p = 0.113). MICU LOS, delirium-coma-free hours, and ventilator-free hours were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Among the respiratory failure subgroup, hospital LOS was shorter in the intervention vs control group (median 9.46 days, interquartile range 4.95-17.56 vs 12.29 days, interquartile range 6.58-21.10, p = 0.011).
Conclusions: Proactive psychiatric consultation in a MICU was associated with decreased time to consultation among all patients and shorter hospital LOS among patients with respiratory failure.
Keywords: consultation; delirium; intensive care; internal medicine.
Copyright © 2018 Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.