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Utilization of psychiatric in‐patient care among new patients in a comprehensive community‐care system: a 3‐year follow‐up study
Author(s) -
Saarento O.,
Nieminen P.,
Hakko H.,
Isohanni M.,
Väisänen E.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1997.tb00386.x
Subject(s) - revolving door , medicine , cohort , psychiatry , psychosis , partial hospitalization , personality , personality disorders , cohort study , psychology , mental health , social psychology , pathology , political science , law
Utilization of psychiatric in‐patient care among 537 new patients was studied in the Department of Psychiatry in Oulu, Finland, during a 3‐year follow‐up period. Hospitalization during the second and third years of the follow‐up was predicted by hospitalization and number of emergency out‐patient contacts during the first year of the study, diagnosis of functional psychosis or personality disorder, and previous in‐patient care. In total, 5% of the cohort fulfilled our criteria for ‘revolving‐door’ patients. The ‘revolving‐door’ phenomenon was associated with in‐patient care at the first contact with the psychiatric services and diagnosis of psychosis or personality disorder. In total, 2% of the cohort became long‐stay hospital patients, and this was predicted by psychosis diagnosis. The clinical implications of these findings are that increased attention should be paid to the first assessment of new patients and to the interaction between psychiatric services and patients during the first year of care.