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Psychiatric Resident and Attending Diagnostic and Prescribing Practices

Received August 14, 2006; revised December 29, 2006, April 30, 2007, and July 3, 2007; accepted July 17, 2007. The authors are affiliated with SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. Address correspondence to Thomas L. Schwartz, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse, 750 East Adams St., Syracuse, NY 13210; schwartt{at}upstate.edu (e-mail).

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates whether two patient population groups, under resident or attending treatment, are equivalent or different in the distribution of patient characteristics, diagnoses, or pharmacotherapy. METHODS: Demographic data, psychiatric diagnoses, and pharmacotherapy data were collected for 100 random patient charts of psychiatric residents, and were then compared with 100 random patient charts of attending psychiatrists. RESULTS: Student’s t test and chi square analysis suggested no statistically significant differences in the average number of comorbid Axis I diagnoses, percentages of patients with Axis II diagnoses, or major differences in the specific percentages of the 10 most common Axis I diagnoses. Furthermore, there were no statistically significant differences in the average number of psychiatric medications prescribed for pharmacological management of mental illness, or ratios of specific drug classes utilized. CONCLUSION: There seems to be no major differences in patient characteristics or in the treatment techniques that were utilized.

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