The medical care of patients with psychiatric illness.

A survey of psychiatric inpatient, outpatients, and consultation services of a large general hospital showed a high incidence of undiagnosed physical illnesses in psychiatric patients. The finding is consistent with that of other researchers and highlights the need for a comprehensive medical examination of all psychiatric patients. The authors discuss the clinical diagnostic interface between physical and psychiatric disorders, as well as medical complications of psychiatric treatment and the reaction of psychiatric patients to physical illness. One recommendation for improving the delivery of medical care to this population is to equip psychiatric services to give complete medical work-ups as part of the standard psychiatric evaluation of entering patients.