Consultation evaluation: I. Psychotropic drug recommendations.

A follow-up chart review was undertaken of 100 consecutive patients seen in psychiatric consultation for whom psychotropic medication was recommended. Significant differences in implementation (P less than 0.01) by class of drugs (neuroleptics, tricyclics, benzodiazepines) were found. Most often no discernible reason for consultee disagreement could be found or inferred. The importance of such follow-up studies for consultation work is stressed.