Psychiatric Screening with Automated Multiphasic Health Testing in the VA Admission Procedure

A total of 241 veterans who applied for admission to a Veterans Administration hospital underwent automated multiphasic health testing and services (AMHTS). The authors compare test findings with the admitting physician's decision as to whether or not a patient should be worked up by the psychiatry service for admission. The findings indicate that an AMHTS system may be able to assist the admitting physician in making this decision: Discriminant function analysis from the patient's history questionnaire simulated the physician's decision fairly well.