Electroconvulsive therapy outpatient program recently established in a psychiatric day hospital

Introduction ECT outpatient program recently created in the Psychiatric Day Hospital in Avila was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of continuation/maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in patients after ECT remission. Objectives Description of the activity and objectives of an ECT outpatient program in a Psychiatric Day Hospital. Methods Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive Study. The three patients who received the continuation/maintenance electroconvulsive therapy during the 10 months this unit has been opened were chosen as a sample. Results From the opening of Psychiatric Day Hospital 10 months ago, 58 patients have been admitted; among them, three patients come to the hospital monthly to receive the electroconvulsive therapy, maintaining their psychopathological stability over time. Conclusions With the creation of this new program we considered three types of objectives: – therapeutic: a therapy applied in a more comfortable and satisfactory for the patient and family regime. To prevent relapse and exacerbations; – management: benefits on the best use of existing resources:  – reduction in hospital admissions and readmissions,  – decrease in the average stay,  – reduction in visits to Emergency Services,  – allow referrals from outpatient department,  – individual monitoring of patients that complements the check at their Mental Health Team; – teaching, training and investigation.