Psykiatriske tvangsinnleggelser i Østfold i 2000 og 2010

Profile and costs involved in long-term compulsory hospitalization of psychiatric patients

OBJECTIVE

Involuntary hospitalization for acute psychiatry cases can be acceptable when there is potential harm. However, there are few reasons for a patient committed on these grounds to stay in an institution for a long period. The objective of the present study was to identify the profile and costs of compulsory hospitalizations over 20 days in a public psychiatric hospital in the coastal region of the state of São Paulo.

METHODS

Retrospective data were collected from the medical records of 1,064 patients admitted between July 2013 and June 2016 from an intensive mental healthcare unit in Santos, state of São Paulo, Brazil.

RESULTS

Records were found of 527 patients who had been hospitalized for at least 21 days during the study period. Long-term hospitalization related to judicial mandates represented 5.9% of the total sample. These patients stayed in the hospital for an average period of 142 days, while patients hospitalized for any other reason stayed an average period of 35 days (p < 0.001). The cost of a long-term court-ordered hospitalization averaged US$ 21,311 per patient.

CONCLUSION

Judicial mandate has been an important reason for the long-term hospitalization of chronic psychiatric patients in Santos, Brazil.

Involuntary admission in Norwegian adult psychiatric hospitals: a systematic review

Background

It is an important objective of the psychiatric services to keep the use of involuntary procedures to a minimum, as the use of coercion involves clinical, ethical, and legal issues. It has been claimed that Norway has a relatively high rate of involuntary admissions. We reviewed the peer-reviewed literature on the use of involuntary admission in Norway, with the purpose of identifying the current state of knowledge and areas in need of further research.

Methods

A systematic review following the PRISMA statement was conducted. We searched the electronic databases PsycInfo, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Embase for studies relating to involuntary admission to Norwegian adult psychiatric hospitals published in the period 1 January 2001 to 8 August 2016. The database searches were supplemented with manual searches of relevant journals, reference lists, and websites.

Results

Seventy-four articles were included and grouped into six categories based on their main topics: Patients’ experiences, satisfaction and perceived coercion (21 articles), the Referral and admission process (11 articles), Rates of admission (8 articles), Characteristics of the patients (17 articles), Staff attitudes (9 articles), and Outcomes (8 articles). Four of the included articles described intervention studies. Fifty-seven of the articles had a quantitative design, 16 had a qualitative design, and one a mixed-method design. There was a broad range of topics that were studied and considerable variation in study designs. The findings were largely in line with the international literature, but the particularities of Norwegian legislation and the Norwegian health services were reflected in the literature. The four intervention studies explored interventions for reducing rates of involuntary admission, such as modifying referring routines, improving patient information procedures, and increasing patients’ say in the admission process, and represent an important avenue for future research on involuntary admission in Norway.

Conclusions

The review suggests that Norway has a relatively high rate of involuntary admissions. The identified studies represent a broad mix of topics and designs. Four intervention studies were identified. More studies with strong designs are needed to bring research on involuntary admission in Norway to a next level.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13033-018-0189-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A population study of Norwegian psychiatric patients referred for clinical brain scanning

BACKGROUND

Patients with psychiatric conditions are often referred for a brain scan during the course of their diagnostic workup.

AIMS

The aim of our study is to determine frequency and type of organic brain pathology, the relationship to age, gender and psychiatric diagnosis.

METHOD

We investigated magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography brain scans from consecutively referred patients over a 10-year period (January 2002-December 2011). The reasons for referral, estimated psychiatric diagnosis, and the pathology discovered for each patient were registered.

RESULTS

A total of 34% of patients demonstrated organic brain pathology, of which 32.8% were considered clinically relevant. This represents a higher frequency of relevant pathology than reported in healthy subjects. Age (P < 0.001) and diagnosis (P = 0.016) were the most important determinants for frequency of pathological findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Brain imaging in clinical psychiatry resulted in approximately 30% positive findings mainly associated with increasing pathologies with age, but also with diagnosis.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Both T.O.D. and M.K.B. have received honorary from Novartis for scientific lectures about multiple sclerosis. M.K.B. also received honoraria from Biogen for scientific lectures. The other authors have no conflicts of interest.

Patient satisfaction after acute admission for psychosis

Background Measuring patient satisfaction in mental health care potentially provides valuable information, but studies in acutely admitted psychosis patients are scarce. Aims The aims were to assess satisfaction among patients acutely admitted with psychosis, to compare satisfaction in voluntarily versus involuntarily admitted patients, and to assess the influence of symptom load and insight. Methods The UKU Consumer Satisfaction Rating Scale (UKU-ConSat) was used. A total of 104 patients completed the UKU-ConSat at discharge/follow-up (between 6-11 weeks after admittance if not discharged earlier) (mean duration of stay 4 weeks), thus corresponding to the end of the acute treatment phase. Results A total of 88.4% had total scores above zero (satisfied). Only three of the eight single items were statistically significantly different among patients admitted voluntarily versus involuntarily, and only the information item score remained significantly different in adjusted analyses. Insight level at admittance, and an increasing level of insight during the acute phase were positively associated with patient satisfaction, whereas levels and changes in positive and negative psychosis symptoms were indirectly related to satisfaction via this process of insight. Conclusions The vast majority of the acutely admitted patients were satisfied with treatment. There were few differences between the involuntarily and voluntarily admitted patient groups, except that the involuntary care group was clearly less satisfied with the information provided. Poor insight had a major negative impact on treatment satisfaction in psychosis. The provision of sufficient and adequate information is an important target for mental health care service improvement.