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D G MCKERRACHER

Publications and source records attributed to D G MCKERRACHER.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1964

A SURVEY OF PSYCHIATRIC UNITS IN GENERAL HOSPITALS IN CANADA.

The Canadian Psychiatric Association recently recommended that all general hospitals over 200 beds should have psychiatric in-patient units. Questionnaires were sent to the administrators of the 52 existing general hospital psychiatric units in Canada. Most administrators expressed approval of these units, although some noted the existence of problems. Statistics are given on the staffing of the units. Although the number of beds was small, these facilities accounted for a very large number of admissions. Most had active teaching programs. The advantages of implementing the C.P.A. recommendation are many. General hospital psychiatric units should be encouraged to undertake comprehensive psychiatry, that is, to accept all types of psychiatric patients, and to retain responsibility for long-term care.

Canada↗
PubMed1963

Psychiatry in general practice.

Psychiatrists should include the family doctor in their plans for future psychiatric services. The general practitioner now treats most of the patients who seek help for psychiatric disorder and he could not give up his psychiatric practice even if he wanted to. Furthermore, there are not now nor will there ever be enough psychiatrists to take over all patients with mental ills. Most emotionally disturbed patients can be better handled by their family physicians than by a specialist.To provide the best care for emotionally disturbed people the communication between family doctors and psychiatrists must be improved. The specialist must acknowledge the importance of the general practitioner's role in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and give him more help. Medical schools must provide better undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatric training for the students who will become family doctors. Health plans and other prepayment agencies should properly compensate the general practitioner for giving psychiatric treatment. The specialist in psychiatry should consult more readily with the general practitioner and help him carry out some of the therapy. General hospitals should permit family doctors to admit mental patients to psychiatric wards in a general hospital and to carry out psychiatric treatment with the help of the specialist in psychiatry.

Family Practice↗