How do psychiatrists and schizophrenic patients assess treatment and outcome in outpatient care?

The documentation of process and outcome indicators of 299 schizophrenic outpatients in Munich for 18 months was one of the interventions in a quality management project of the German competence network for schizophrenia.

30 psychiatrists in private practice in Munich were randomly assigned to an intervention and a control group (152 vs. 147 patients). All doctors documented interventions and outcome (e. g. psychopathology, hospitalization, compliance, side effects). Patients assessed their satisfaction with treatment, quality of life, side effects and compliance.

Detailed results concerning medication and the indicators mentioned above are shown, with an emphasis on differences between new and conventional antipsychotics. There was no difference in the satisfaction with treatment between conventional and new antipsychotics (1). The significance of all subjective and objective assessments is discussed in the light of the fact that the patient characteristics treated with conventional and new antipsychotics diverge in areas which can likewise have an effect on the subjective evaluation.

1. Schmidt, J. et al. Psychother Psychosom Med Psychol 39 (1989) 248–255