Psychiatric services as seen by GPs: A survey among primary care physicians in two Finnish cities.

To assess the availability and flexibility of psychiatric services as seen by primary care physicians, a questionnaire was mailed to 190 general practitioners working in public health centers in two Finnish university towns with populations of 180,000 and 160,000. The response rate of the GPs was 64%. The primary care physicians were dissatisfied with the amount of psychiatric services and found problems in transferring information from specialist care to primary care. Admission to psychiatric hospital was considered difficult to arrange even when found necessary by primary care, and the delay between referral and entering specialist-level services was seen as too long. Satisfaction was expressed about special teams that respond quickly to crisis situations. In improving collaboration between primary care and specialized care, better transfer of information and flexible consultations are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]