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[Patient suitability for discharge from psychiatric hospitals]
E Etzersdorfer1, J Wancata, P Fischer
1Universitätsklinik für Tiefenpsychologie und Psychotherapie, Wien.
Objective:
To assess the possibility of discharging psychiatric inpatients of two large Mental Hospitals in Lower Austria.
Methods:
A point prevalence study was performed in 1992. Treating psychiatrists were asked to evaluate the possibility to discharge patients under the hypothetical assumption that a broad range of residential facilities were available.
Results:
The inpatient proportion had decreased from 2179 in 1974 to 1032 in 1992. Of the 1992 population 75.7% might be discharged. Most patients (41.5%) were regarded as needing a permanently staffed home.
Conclusions:
Although the inpopulation of the two large Mental Hospitals studied had decreased over a period of 18 years already by over 50 percent, the results of this study show that there is a large potential for further reform. Since the evaluation was carried out by the treating psychiatrists in the hospital, who might have been in a conflict of interests or might have preferred the treatment they are providing themselves, this finding is particularly remarkable.