Short admission in an emergency psychiatry unit can prevent prolonged lengths of stay in a psychiatric institution

OBJECTIVE: Characterize and compare acute psychiatric admissions to the psychiatric wards of a general hospital (22 beds), a psychiatric hospital (80) and of an emergency psychiatry unit (6). METHOD: Survey of the ratios and shares of the demographic, diagnostic and hospitalization variables involved in all acute admissions registered in a catchment area in Brazil between 1998 and 2004. RESULTS: From the 11,208 admissions, 47.8% of the patients were admitted to a psychiatric hospital and 14.1% to a general hospital. The emergency psychiatry unit accounted for 38.1% of all admissions during the period, with a higher variability in occupancy rate and bed turnover during the years. Around 80% of the hospital stays lasted less than 20 days and in almost half of these cases, patients were discharged in 2 days. Although the total number of admissions remained stable during the years, in 2004, a 30% increase was seen compared to 2003. In 2004, bed turnover and occupancy rate at the emergency psychiatry unit increased. CONCLUSION: The increase in the number of psychiatric admissions in 2004 could be attributed to a lack of new community-based services available in the area beginning in 1998. Changes in the health care network did affect the emergency psychiatric service and the limitations of the community-based network could influence the rate of psychiatric admissions.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Barros,Régis Eric Maia, Marques,João Mazzoncini de Azevedo, Carlotti,Isabela Panzeri, Zuardi,Antonio Waldo, Del-Ben,Cristina Marta
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria 2010
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462010000200009
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