Consultation-Liaison outcome evaluation system. I. Consultant-consultee interaction.

The Consultation-Liaison Outcome Evaluation System characterizes the effectiveness of consultative activities. The initial phase of the system identifies consultees' responses to psychiatric consultants' recommendations and diagnoses and the variables critical to concordance with the use of quantitative measures. The observed incidence and concordance rates of the consultant-consultee interaction were integrated (1) to establish a concordance hierarchy clarifying consultees' priorities in seeking psychiatric consultation, (2) to provide reference points to guide psychiatric consultants' clinical actions, (3) to establish tentative standards with which to evaluate the effectiveness of psychiatric consultation, and (4) to signal the need for further outcome studies and the development of data-based consultation practices.