Schizophrenia in general practice: a national survey of general practitioners in Ireland

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Chronic schizophrenia is challenging to manage in primary care. AIMS: We sought to establish the views of General Practitioners about managing patients with chronic schizophrenia in primary care. METHODS: A cross-sectional, postal survey questionnaire of a randomly selected sample of 20% of GPs was carried out. RESULTS: Most GPs (97.2%) have at least one person with schizophrenia attending their practice. A substantial number of GPs (22.2%) treat cases of schizophrenia without specialist input following an initial referral to psychiatric services. Almost all (88.7%) advised patients who had experienced multiple relapses to remain on medication indefinitely. One third of GPs repor..