Mode of entry to an early intervention service for psychotic disorders: determinants and impact on outcome

Specialized early intervention services for first-episode psychosis should treat a proportion of patients without using inpatient beds. This study compared such service users by their initial mode of treatment before entry-inpatient (N=157) or outpatient (N=102).

On entry to a Montreal early intervention service, the groups were compared on baseline clinical and functional variables and on hospitalizations during two years of treatment.

Initial presentation at an emergency service, shorter duration of untreated psychosis, lower functioning level, and aggressive and bizarre behavior were associated with the inpatient entry mode to early intervention services. During follow-up, individuals entering as inpatients spent more days hospitalized than those entering as outpatients, and their time to rehospitalization was shorter.

Results suggest that entry into early intervention services via the hospital emergency department and presentation with behavioral and functional disturbances were more predictive than core psychotic symptoms of hospital inpatient status on referral to an early intervention service.