An outcome monitoring system for psychiatric inpatient care

As the national impetus for examining treatment outcomes increases, the demand for cost-effective systems for psychiatric outcome monitoring grows. This article describes one local effort to develop a monitoring system at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. The system uses a combination of face-to-face and computer interviews of a random sample of recently admitted inpatients, with follow-up interviews one month postdischarge and one year following admission. The patient self-report data and interviewer assessment data generated by these interviews are used to quantify patient symptoms and social functioning. With a large enough sample, these findings can be used to identify areas where patient care may be improved. The article also discusses the process and problems involved in implementing the monitoring system and presents illustrative preliminary findings.