View article

To obtain improved quality information regarding psychiatrist waiting times by use of a novel methodological approach in which accessibility and wait times are determined by a real-time patient referral procedure.

An adult male patient with depression was referred for psychiatric assessment by a family physician. Consecutive calls were made to all registered psychiatrists (n = 297) in Vancouver. A semistructured call procedure was used to collect information about the psychiatrists' availability for receipt of this and similar referrals, identify factors that affect psychiatrist accessibility, and determine the availability of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

Efforts were made to contact 297 psychiatrists and 230 (77%) were reached successfully. Among the 230 psychiatrists contacted, 160 (70%) indicated that they were unable to accept the referral. Although 70 (30%) indicated that they might be …