Rates and Correlations of Psychiatric Drug Administration in a Rehabilitation Center

Abstract

Background: Physical injury has been associated with the development of several psychopathological manifestations. Less is known about the use of psychiatric medication in those patients.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the use of psychiatric medication by patients been admitted in a rehabilitation center in a tertiary care teaching hospital and to inquire for the correlations of such drug administration.

Materials and methods: The sample consisted of 127 patients who had been admitted to a rehabilitation center, being in the postacute phase of their condition during a 2-year period. Patients' medical records were searched for the demographic and clinical information.

Results: Analysis was performed for 118 patients, mostly men (62.7%) with the mean age of 57.5 years. About 43.2% of patients (n = 51) were referred for psychiatric consultation, and 39.8% (n = 47) were prescribed a psychiatric drug. Traumatic brain injury was the diagnosis, positively correlated to referral. Twenty-seven out of the 67 nonreferred patients (40.3%) were prescribed psychiatric regimens by physicians. Nearly 38.1% of patients were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder by the consultation-Liaison psychiatric service.

Conclusions: In a rehabilitation center, psychiatric drug administration is common practice and drugs may be prescribed by the center's physicians and by psychiatrists. Such a drug prescription was found to be correlated to referral to the consultation-Liaison psychiatric service.

Keywords: Consultation-Liaison psychiatry; psychiatric medication; rehabilitation; traumatic brain injury.