Psychiatric Day Care Hospital at Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte: Does It Prevent Re-admissions?

Introduction Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte's Psychiatric Day Care Hospital (CHLN-PDC) offers a psychotherapeutic oriented program. Objectives To characterize the CHLN-PDC population and to determine if the subjects' HSM-PDC treatment leads to variation in the number of re-admissions to psychiatric wards. Methods Retrospective analysis of all patients admitted to the CHLN-PDC between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011, assessing for gender, age, diagnoses, time of admittance, and number of re-admissions in psychiatric wards, three years before and three years after the program. Results During this period, 71 patients were admitted (17 males, 54 females), with an average age of 33 years old (no difference between genders). Mean duration of the program was 267 days (260 for females, 291 for males). The most frequent diagnoses were Depressive Episode (N=30), Personality Disorder (N=29, in general co-morbid to other diagnoses), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (N=5), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (N=5), Schizophrenia (N=3) and Schizoaffective Disorder (N=3). The number of admissions to psychiatric wards reduced from 86 before to 36 after the program. The reduction was more evident for patients with Bipolar Disorder and Personality Disorder. Patients who completed the full program remained in average 303 days, but re-admissions were reduced greatly when compared to those who did not complete the full program (increase of re-admissions). Conclusions The majority of patients were women, with no difference of age between genders. Most common diagnoses were Depressive Episode and Personality Disorder. The program, when completed to its fullest extent, lead to a decrease in the number of re-admissions.