Description of the activity of a psychiatric day hospital from its opening up to the present day

Introduction Description of the most relevant data found in a Psychiatric Day Hospital opened ten months ago in the hospital complex of Avila. Objectives The goal is to evaluate clinical and management data in patients of the Psychiatric Day Hospital. Methods Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. A data collection form where each patient is classified into: sex, age, average stay, first admission or readmission, origin, reason for discharge, destination on discharge and diagnoses (classification ICD-10) was used. Results From the opening of the Psychiatric Day Hospital ten months ago, 58 patients have been admitted: 70.7% women and 29.3% men. Readmissions: 1.7%. Their origin was: psychiatric hospitalization (53.5%), outpatient department (31%), emergency room (13.8%) and Centre for Psychosocial Rehabilitation (1.7%). 41 out of 58 patients have been discharged. Reasons for discharge: improvement (78%), referral to other units (7.4%), voluntary discharge (4.8%) and others (9.8%). The destination on discharge was: outpatient department (90.4%), Centre for Psychosocial Rehabilitation (4.8%), and Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit (4.8%). The most frequent diagnoses on discharge were: bipolar affective disorder, adaptation, emotionally unstable personality disorder, dysthymia, persistent delusional disorders, specific personality disorders and severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms. Conclusions The Psychiatric Day Hospital is an intensive treatment unit with a partial hospitalization system, which is distinguished by the variety of patients it is able to admit, as well as the clinical and management benefits the dynamic of these units can provide.