recognition of depression and anxiety by non-psychiatric residents in a general hospital

objective: the objective of this study was to determine the ability of non-psychiatric (medical and surgical residents) residents on inpatient units to recognize patients with clinically significant depression and anxiety among a cohort admitted to the dr. shariati hospital in tehran. method: patients within 72 hours of admission underwent screening with the hospital anxiety and depression scale(hads). simultanously the residents caring for the patients was assessed whether they believed that patients had significant depression or anxiety. they should also rate the degree of depression and anxiety of their patients in a 5 point likert scale. results: assessments were completed for 401 patients. according to hads score 136(34.25%) patients had probable depressive disorders and 157(39.75%) patients had probable anxiety disorders. the residents only asked from 26(6.4%) and 32(8.2%) patients about depression and anxiety respectively. they identified only 10.2% of patients with probable depressive disorder (hads-d score>7) and10.8% of patients with probable anxiety disorder(hads-a score>7). there was no significant correlation of residents' assessment of severity of depression and anxiety with hads scores. residents varied in their sensitivity to their patients' depression and anxiety. there was no correlation between residents characteristic (gender and medical or surgical disciplines) and accuracy of probable diagnosis. conclusion: medical and surgical residents routinely under-recognize depression and anxiety among inpatients in medical and surgical wards