Disposition of emergency department patients with psychiatric comorbidity: results from the 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Background: Few emergency department (ED) studies have examined how psychiatric comorbidity relates to hospitalisation decisions.

Methods: We assessed the relationship of psychiatric comorbidity to hospitalisation decisions among ED patients in the 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Results: Patients with psychiatric comorbidity were five times more likely to be hospitalised than patients with a single psychiatric diagnosis.

Race disparities in psychiatric rates in emergency departments.

Psychiatric diagnoses based on the International Classification of Diseases--Ninth Revision were examined in the medical discharge records of 33,000 emergency department (ED) patients to determine if (a) psychiatric disorders were underdiagnosed, (b) there were race and gender disparities in psychiatric rates, and (c) psychiatric rates varied as a function of type of injury (e.g., self vs.

Concurrent validity study of the Slosson Intelligence Test-Revised in mental retardation testing.

The new Slosson Intelligence Test-Revised and the recommended abbreviated battery of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition were given to individuals whose Stanford-Binet IQs ranged from 36 to 110. The Slosson-R correlated highly with the Stanford-Binet, r = .92.

Identification of low-effort patients through dynamometry.

In recent years researchers have devised a number of methods to detect patients who purposely exert low effort during grip evaluations. This study further defines the five-rung grip test introduced by Stokes and subsequently challenged by Niebuhr and Marion. New data are presented on the rapid exchange grip test.