Study of the work of a community medical emergency service with psychosomatic and psychiatric patients.

The study aims to: (a) assess the incidence of functional/psychosomatic (FP) and psychiatric (P) calls to the Community Emergency Medical Service (during the night, week-ends, public holidays, when the primary care physicians are not on duty) and to determine the type of response provided; (b) highlight the diagnostic, relational, therapy and assistance problems involved in an approach to these patients at an emergency call level by a young, nonspecialist physician. The study data show that the quantitative importance of FP and P patients, as noted in the literature, is equally valid for emergency. But the study also highlights the numerous difficulties these patients cause to nonspecialist physicians. Liaison psychiatrist activity should find excellent growth potential in this new direction.