- Email: [email protected]
Measures of Satisfaction With Consultation-Liaison Services
Letters to the Editor over time with the proper foundation, available resources, and motivation. Disclosure: The authors disclosed no proprietary or commercial interest in any product mentioned or concept discussed in this article Patrick R. Aquino, Mount Auburn Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA Priya Gopalan, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA Pierre N. Azzam, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA References 1. Roberts JL, Ostapchuk M, Miller KH, Ziegler CH: What residents know about health care reform and what we should teach them. J Grad Med Educ 2011; 3:155–161 2. American Medical Association. CPTs Changes 2013: An Insider's View. Chicago: American Medical Association; 2013 3. Office of Healthcare Systems. Relative Value Units (RVU) for CPTs Codes Most Frequently Used by Psychiatrists. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association; 2013 (Accessed, June 2013). 〈http://www.psychiatry.org/File %20Library/Practice/Managing%20a %20Practice/CPT/2013-RVUs-CodesMost-Freq-Used-by-Psychiatrists.pdf〉 4. Kunkel EJ, Del Busto E, Kathol R, et al: Physician staffing for the practice of psychosomatic medicine in general hospitals: a pilot study. Psychosomatics 2010; 51:520–527 5. Bronheim HE, Fulop G, Kunkel EJ, et al: The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine practice guidelines for psychiatric consultation in the general
314
www.psychosomaticsjournal.org
medical setting. Psychosomatics 1998; 39:S8–S30 6. Jin C, Novik S, Saravay S: Consultationliaison psychiatry training and supervision results in fewer recommendations for constant observation. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2000; 22:359–364 7. Lavakumar M, Gastelum ED, Hussain F, et al: How do you know your consult service is doing a good job? Generating performance measures for C-L service effectiveness Psychosomatics 2013; 54: 567–574
Measures of Satisfaction With ConsultationLiaison Services TO THE EDITOR: We congratulate Kitts, Gallagher, Ibeziako, Bujorneanu, Garcia, and DeMaso on their article on Parent and Young Adult Satisfaction with Psychiatry Consultation Services in a Children's Hospital.1 Their study demonstrates not only that it is feasible to deliver consultation services to children and their families that result in a high level of satisfaction but also that it is possible to assess satisfaction with a high level of acceptance of the survey instrument by the patient and family raters, and that such a survey can provide information both on overall indices of satisfaction and on specific performance parameters that can be targeted for improvement as necessary. We see the appearance of this article, along with our own article,
addressing consultee satisfaction with consultation services, which appeared in the same issue of the journal,2 as welcome evidence of growing recognition of the importance of assessment of our services0 clinical work and overall function and of the development of the means and the willingness to do such assessments. We are currently performing a multicenter validation of our previous study on parameters of consultee satisfaction and look forward to replication and extension of work on patient satisfaction survey instruments to include adult patients. Even taken together, consultee and patient satisfaction will not comprise a perfect index of the quality and effectiveness of consultation-liaison services, but they will be a very good start. Peter A. Shapiro, M.D. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY Mallika Lavakumar, M.D. Department of Psychiatry, MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
References 1. Kitts RL, Gallagher K, Ibeziako P, Bujorneanu S, Garcia G, DeMaso DR: Parent and young adult satisfaction with psychiatry consultation services in a Children0 s Hospital. Psychosomatics 2013; 54:575–584 2. Lavakumar M, Gastelum ED, Hussain F, et al: How Do You Know Your Consult Service is Doing a Good Job? Generating Performance Measures for C-L Service Effectiveness. Psychosomatics 2013; 54:567–574
Psychosomatics 55:3, May/June 2014
314
www.psychosomaticsjournal.org
medical setting. Psychosomatics 1998; 39:S8–S30 6. Jin C, Novik S, Saravay S: Consultationliaison psychiatry training and supervision results in fewer recommendations for constant observation. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2000; 22:359–364 7. Lavakumar M, Gastelum ED, Hussain F, et al: How do you know your consult service is doing a good job? Generating performance measures for C-L service effectiveness Psychosomatics 2013; 54: 567–574
Measures of Satisfaction With ConsultationLiaison Services TO THE EDITOR: We congratulate Kitts, Gallagher, Ibeziako, Bujorneanu, Garcia, and DeMaso on their article on Parent and Young Adult Satisfaction with Psychiatry Consultation Services in a Children's Hospital.1 Their study demonstrates not only that it is feasible to deliver consultation services to children and their families that result in a high level of satisfaction but also that it is possible to assess satisfaction with a high level of acceptance of the survey instrument by the patient and family raters, and that such a survey can provide information both on overall indices of satisfaction and on specific performance parameters that can be targeted for improvement as necessary. We see the appearance of this article, along with our own article,
addressing consultee satisfaction with consultation services, which appeared in the same issue of the journal,2 as welcome evidence of growing recognition of the importance of assessment of our services0 clinical work and overall function and of the development of the means and the willingness to do such assessments. We are currently performing a multicenter validation of our previous study on parameters of consultee satisfaction and look forward to replication and extension of work on patient satisfaction survey instruments to include adult patients. Even taken together, consultee and patient satisfaction will not comprise a perfect index of the quality and effectiveness of consultation-liaison services, but they will be a very good start. Peter A. Shapiro, M.D. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY Mallika Lavakumar, M.D. Department of Psychiatry, MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
References 1. Kitts RL, Gallagher K, Ibeziako P, Bujorneanu S, Garcia G, DeMaso DR: Parent and young adult satisfaction with psychiatry consultation services in a Children0 s Hospital. Psychosomatics 2013; 54:575–584 2. Lavakumar M, Gastelum ED, Hussain F, et al: How Do You Know Your Consult Service is Doing a Good Job? Generating Performance Measures for C-L Service Effectiveness. Psychosomatics 2013; 54:567–574
Psychosomatics 55:3, May/June 2014