Pokharel, GrishmaBasnet, MadhurPoudel, SagarKafle, NareshJaiswal, Rahul KumarBogati, SunilOjha, IndiraSoni, Dipesh2026-02-162026-02-162021https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14572/4760Grishma Pokharel Melamchi Primary Health Care Clinic, Melamchi, Sindupalchok, Nepal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4884-4689 Madhur Basnet Department of Psychiatry, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9624-0321 Sagar Poudel School of Public Health and Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India Naresh Kafle Waling Primary Health Care Center, Waling, Syangja, Nepal Rahul Kumar Jaiswal Department of Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, India Sunil Bogati Kolhabi Primary Health Care Clinic, Kolhabi, Bara, Nepal Indira Ojha Bulingtar Primary Health Care Center, Bulingtar, Nawalparasi, Nepal Dipesh Soni Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, IndiaAbstract: Introduction: Pathway of psychiatric care is defined as the sequence of contacts with individuals and organizations initiated by the distressed person’s efforts and his significant others to seek appropriate health care. This study aimed to find the prevalence of non-psychiatric referral as first encounter among patients attending the psychiatry outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from 29th March 2015 to 25th April 2015 in the outpatient department of the department of psychiatry of a tertiary via direct interview using the World Health Organization’s encounter form. Ethical approval was taken from undergraduate medical research protocol review board (Reference number 105/071/072). Psychiatric diagnoses were made by respective consultants using the International Classification of Diseases-10 Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines criteria. Data was entered in the Microsoft Excel 2007 and analyzed by Stata version 15. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and percentage for binary data. Results: Out of 50 patients, 26 (52%) (38.2-65.8 at 95% Confidence Interval) of new cases in the outpatient department had non-psychiatric referrals. Among them, 13 (26%) referred from faith healers, 7 (14%) from the general hospital and 6 (12%) from medical out patient department. Conclusions: The prevalence of non-psychiatric referral for the patients seen for the first time in the psychiatry outpatient department was similar to findings from studies done in different parts of South East Asia.en-USfaith healingpsychiatryreferralArticle