Changes in psychiatric services dynamics during the COVID-19 pandemic: Recognizing the need for resources shift

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Mental Health Services Research
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted healthcare systems globally.
• Understanding changes in health service utilization during the pandemic is crucial for effective healthcare management.
• Initial reports indicated a drop in psychiatric admissions but an increase in acute hospitalizations and emergency visits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze changes in psychiatric outpatient and inpatient service utilization.
• To compare service utilization in the first year of the pandemic with the pre-pandemic year.
• To examine the influence of the stringency index on mental health service use.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of service utilization data from a large Croatian psychiatric institution.
• Comparison of data from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) with a pre-pandemic year (2019).
• Correlation of service utilization trends with the COVID-19 stringency index.

Main Results:

• A general decrease in hospitalizations was observed, with a notable unit-specific increase.
• A non-significant overall drop in regular outpatient visits occurred, with a significant decrease during periods of strict epidemiological measures.
• A significant increase in emergency visits was recorded, which did not return to pre-pandemic levels, indicating a sustained burden.

Conclusions:

• The pandemic altered mental health service utilization patterns, with varied impacts on different service types.
• Strict epidemiological measures were associated with significant drops in outpatient visits and increases in emergency care demand.
• These findings underscore the need for flexible resource allocation to manage evolving mental health service demands during public health crises.