The Impact of Creating an Inpatient Team in an Acute Psychiatric Ward

Abstract

Introduction: Acute inpatient services continue to be key components in psychiatric care for patients in crisis. In an economic crisis context, investment in Psychiatry is scarce and limited. Thus, optimizing hospital resources is much needed, allowing patients to receive the best treatment available and not remain in the hospital after resolution of the acute episode. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of creating an Inpatient Team (IT), according to the most frequently used variables in published studies (length of stay and readmission rates). Methods: Analysis of hospitalization records during two periods (P1 and P2), before and after IT’s creation. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 20.0). Results: A statistically significant difference was confirmed in mean length of stay between the two periods, with a 21.47% reduction in P2 compared to P1. The difference in readmission rates was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the creation of an IT was associated with a decrease in the duration of hospitalization, confirming the importance of the optimization of human resources, particularly when these are scarce, aiming to improve the quality of inpatient care.

Keywords

• Inpatient Unit
• Psychiatric Hospital
• Hospitalization