Angewandte psychosomatik am beispiel des psychosomatischen konsiliar-/liaison-dienstes.

The discussion around the integration of a psycho-social approach in medicine concerning "patient-centred medical care" has gained increasing importance in the last few years especially at medical conferences and in text books. This importance has not been mirrored, however, in the daily life of hospital patients. A well-proven model of co-operation between psychiatric/ psychosomatic departments and other medical departments are the so-called consiliar/ liaison services. These have been developed in psychiatry and represent an especially close type of co-operation going beyond the classical and generally known counselling model. The following article gives a general overview of this form of co-operation with special consideration given to the situation in Austria. Questions concerning fields of duty, needs and the efficiency of C/L services are elaborated in the selection of areas of special emphasis. As examples, results of a few empirical studies will be illustrated which in many respects give encouragement to increasingly implement this form of applied psychsomatics in our hospitals.