In Norway, it is mainly GPs that admit refer involuntarily to psychiatric hospitals. The process is regulated by legislation that requires that the patient suffers from a serious psychiatric disorder and is a danger to him/herself or that necessary treatment cannot be given otherwise. about 1/3 of patients are referred involuntarily in Norway. While legislators have tried to reduce the number of patients being referred involuntarily by changing the legislative requirements, the proportion of involuntarily referred patients has remained high. More knowledge is needed about why patients are referred involuntarily, and especially about GP's expectations.

To examine which expectations GPs have when referring patients involuntarily to a psychiatric hospital.

Semi-structured phone interviews were performed with 74 GPs that had referred patients involuntarily to a major Norwegian University Psychiatric Hospital. One topic that was discussed was GPs expectations. Each GP could give several expectations.

81% expected to solve an acute situation and make sure that the patient was cared for.

58% expected that appropriate medical treatment would be given.

38% expected a major change/improvement in the treatment or care of the patient.

22% expected that the patient's diagnosis would become clearer during the stay.

GPs may have different expectations when admitting patients involuntarily to psychiatric hospital. Solving an acute situation and making sure that the patient was cared for was the most important expectation given by the GPs.