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[The decisions of indication for inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric treatment].

OBJECTIVES: To date there has been little empirical investigation of the indications for hospitalising children in child and adolescent psychiatry wards. Therefore we analysed the decision-making models used to establish the criteria for admission to child and adolescent psychiatric clinics. It is assumed that the clinical experience and social orientation of the specialists involved, as well as the standpoint of their respective institutions of health care, play a significant role. METHODS: The decision-making models of 71 specialists working in the field of in- and outpatient child and adolescent psychiatry were recorded using an adapted structuring process. The hypotheses were examined by comparing the models used by the different professional groups working in inpatient units and by child and adolescent psychiatrists working in private practice to the decision-making models used by assistant medical directors and head physicians. RESULTS: The factors "clinical experience" and "profession group orientation" were found to be of only marginal importance. Only the inpatient nursing staff considered social factors in arriving at an indication. The influence of such "setting" variables is also evident in the fact that the outpatient staff used more narrowly defined criteria and rated their outpatient service as being more sustainable than did the physicians in the inpatient departments. The criteria used by all professions included being a danger to oneself and others, severity of symptoms, the assessment of outpatient resources and efficiency, prospects of success, and the need for intensive treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide a basis for further research and indicate the need for additional discussion of the indication criteria currently in use.

Adolescent↗

Race/ethnicity: who is counting what?

Misclassification of race and ethnicity in administrative data may produce misleading results if it is overlooked or ignored. In this study, we examined the racial/ethnic classifications of 1,084 veterans with stroke in Florida who received inpatient and outpatient services within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system and who were also eligible for Medicare between 2000 and 2001. We compared the reliability of racial/ethnic classifications between VA inpatient data, VA outpatient data, and Medicare data. Our results showed that (1) the rate of unknown racial/ethnic classification in VA outpatient and inpatient data was high, (2) minimizing the unknowns by substituting known values from other data when available would greatly enhance the overall and individual classification reliability, (3) black and white classifications in the VA data had stronger agreement with Medicare data, and (4) Medicare data may under-represent Hispanic patients.

Databases, Factual↗

Profile of psychiatric disorders in the Sri Lanka Air Force and the outcome at 6 months.

The epidemiology of mental disorders in the Sri Lanka Air Force is not known, although they have been engaged in front line military service in a civil war for the past two decades. This study aims to identify the mental health needs of military personnel as a means to resource development. Referrals to a specialist psychiatry outpatient service were studied to assess the profile of diagnoses and outcome after 6 months. Fifty percent suffered from adjustment disorder or a stress reaction. In a majority, the onset of the mental health problem was not caused by direct exposure to the war situation. There was a high rate of return to work at 6 months. However, a disproportionately high loss of personnel was seen in the new recruits and trainee soldiers. These data are useful in developing services and resources for mental health care for the workforce.

Adolescent↗

Primary health-care services with a functional ambulatory care clinical pharmacy in a low-income housing project clinic.

This article describes the establishment of clinical pharmacy services at a primary health-care clinic in a low-income housing area in New Orleans. The St Thomas Health Care Services Outpatient Clinic was established in 1987 by the Catholic Sisters of Charity. The clinic provides care for 4500 ambulatory patients who otherwise have inadequate health care. Xavier University College of Pharmacy established pharmacy services in the clinic as a site for its ambulatory clerkship students. The pharmacy provides training for students on the principles and practice standards of ambulatory care pharmacy services, which include taking medication history and performing drug therapy review. A computer-generated medical record was developed to provide access to patients' demographic and drug profiles. The system was designed to help the pharmacist preceptor and students detect, resolve, and prevent drug-related problems, and to aid in learning to monitor the progression of disease(s) and whether the patient is experiencing the desired therapeutic outcome. Direct contact with patients allows the pharmacist and the students to become familiar with patient compliance problems, adverse drug reaction monitoring, patient counseling techniques, and providing patient education.

Community Health Centers↗

Changing patterns of care for war-related post-traumatic stress disorder at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers: the use of performance data to guide program development.

This study traces the development of services for war-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) provided at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. During the 1980s, long-stay inpatient programs were the major source of specialized VA treatment for PTSD, and an initial effort at development of specialized outpatient clinics resulted in incomplete implementation. In 1988, a full continuum of inpatient and outpatient services was designed and a national program of performance monitoring and outcome assessment was implemented to standardize program structure, monitor delivery, and evaluate outcomes. A series of multisite outcome studies showed significant but modest improvement in association with specialized outpatient treatment; they also showed that traditional long-term inpatient programs were no more effective and were far more costly than short-term specialized inpatient programs. Since 1995, the VA has shifted the emphasis of care substantially from inpatient to outpatient settings. National monitoring efforts have documented maintenance of specialized PTSD treatment capacity, increased access, improvement on available administrative measures of quality of care, and improved inpatient outcomes. Although there have been major changes in the treatment of mental illness in most health care systems in recent years, change in the treatment of PTSD at VA medical centers is unique in that it has been guided by the results of multisite outcome studies conducted in a "real-world" setting and has been supported by ongoing nationwide performance monitoring.

Ambulatory Care↗

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of continuous subcutaneous terbutaline versus oral tocolytics for treatment of recurrent preterm labor in twin gestations.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of treating recurrent preterm labor with continuous subcutaneous terbutaline versus oral tocolytics in twin gestations. STUDY DESIGN: In a retrospective, matched-cohort design, twin pregnancies treated as outpatients with continuous subcutaneous terbutaline were identified from a perinatal database, then matched 1:1 by gestational age at recurrent preterm labor to those receiving oral tocolytics. There were 353 patients per treatment group. A cost model was used to compare antepartum hospital, nursery, and outpatient charges. RESULTS: Infants of the subcutaneous terbutaline group had greater gestational age at delivery, higher birth weights, and less frequent neonatal intensive care unit admission. Charges for antepartum hospitalization and nursery were significantly less in the subcutaneous terbutaline group, while charges for outpatient services were less for the oral group. Mean total estimated charges were US$17,109 less for those receiving subcutaneous terbutaline. CONCLUSION: Improved clinical outcomes and decreased nursery utilization suggest cost-effectiveness of outpatient continuous subcutaneous terbutaline versus oral tocolytics for the treatment of recurrent preterm labor.

Administration, Oral↗

Outpatient geriatric evaluation and management. Results of a randomized trial.

The effectiveness and efficiency of outpatient geriatric evaluation and management (GEM) was compared with usual outpatient primary care (UPC). One hundred sixty frail elderly outpatients were assigned randomly to GEM or UPC and assessed at baseline and at 8 months on measures of (1) health and functional status, (2) psychosocial well-being, (3) quality of health and social care, (4) use of inpatient and outpatient services, and (5) cost of care. The results indicate that GEM was significantly more effective than UPC in reducing mortality, increasing patient satisfaction, and improving the quality of health and social care. However, it was not effective in reducing health care use or the cost of care.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Managed behavioral health care: a Medicaid carve-out for youth.

This DataWatch assesses the impact of a public sector-managed Medicaid mental health carve-out pilot for North Carolina youth. Access to, volume of, and costs of mental health/substance abuse services are reported. We compared a pilot managed care program, with an incentive to shift hospital use and costs to community-based services, with usual fee-for-service Medicaid. Aggregate data from Medicaid claims for youth (from birth to age seventeen) statewide are reported for five years. We found dramatic reductions in use of inpatient care, with a shift to intensive outpatient services, and less growth in mental health costs. These findings demonstrate that public sector-managed care can be viable and more efficient than a fee-for-service model.

Adolescent↗

A controlled trial of an environmental tobacco smoke reduction intervention in low-income children with asthma.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of a cotinine-feedback, behaviorally based education intervention in reducing environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure and health-care utilization of children with asthma. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial of educational intervention vs usual care. SETTING: The pediatric pulmonary service of a regional pediatric hospital. PARTICIPANTS: ETS-exposed, Medicaid/Medi-Cal-eligible, predominantly minority children who were 3 to 12 years old and who were seen for asthma in the hospital's emergency, inpatient, and outpatient services departments (n = 87). INTERVENTION: Three nurse-led sessions employing behavior-changing strategies and basic asthma education and that incorporated repeated feedback on the child's urinary cotinine level. MEASUREMENTS: The primary measurements were the urinary cotinine/creatinine ratio (CCR) and the number of acute asthma medical visits. The secondary measurements were number of hospitalizations, smoking restrictions in home, amount smoked, reported exposures of children, and asthma control. RESULTS: The intervention was associated with a significantly lower odds ratio (OR) for more than one acute asthma medical visit in the follow-up year, after adjusting for baseline visits (total visits, 87; OR, 0.32; p = 0.03), and a comparably sized but nonsignificant OR for one or more hospitalization (OR, 0.34; p = 0.14). The follow-up CCR measurement and the determination of whether smoking was prohibited inside the home strongly favored the intervention group (n = 51) (mean difference in CCR adjusted for baseline, -0.38; p = 0.26; n = 51) (60; OR [for proportion of subjects prohibiting smoking], 0.24; p = 0.11; n = 60). CONCLUSIONS: This intervention significantly reduced asthma health-care utilization in ETS-exposed, low-income, minority children. Effects sizes for urine cotinine and proportion prohibiting smoking were moderate to large but not statistically significant, possibly the result of reduced precision due to the loss of patients to active follow-up. Improving ETS reduction interventions and understanding their mechanism of action on asthma outcomes requires further controlled trials that measure ETS exposure and behavioral and disease outcomes concurrently.

Acute Disease↗

Recent developments in organizing and financing health-care services.

Recent developments in the organization and financing of health-care services are described. All recent developments reflect an effort by both private and public payers to restrict use of health-care services, as well as to control price. Private use-review programs, such as second-surgical-opinion services and case-management services, are increasingly being used. The number of hospital admissions and length of patient stay continue to decline, but, because of increasing complexity of care, the cost of pharmaceutical services has not decreased proportionately. Points relating to health-care financing in the federal reconciliation budget effective May 1, 1986, are reviewed, as are other new federal regulations affecting the structure of services and terms of reimbursement under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. For Medicare, these include new scope objectives for professional review organizations, decreased return-on-equity payments to for-profit hospitals for outpatient services and to skilled nursing facilities, and elimination of waiver-of-liability presumptions for hospitals. Also, physicians must now identify specific services provided during each inpatient hospital visit. Most developments related to home health-care services pertain to limiting the cost of durable medical equipment. Alternative types of health care based on capitation funding, such as health maintenance organizations, competitive medical plans, and preferred provider organizations, will continue to grow in both the public and private sectors, and the use of private use-review programs for controlling costs is expected to accelerate in the next year.

Delivery of Health Care↗

Who visits the psychiatric emergency room for the first time?

OBJECTIVE: To examine patient and system characteristics of first-time ("incident") vs. recurrent ("recurrent") use of a psychiatric emergency room (PER). METHODS: Data on demographic and clinical characteristics and health service utilization were collected for incident and recurrent users (n=3,719) who visited the PER of the university hospital in Leuven, Belgium, between March 2000 and March 2002. RESULTS: About 64% (n=2,368) were incident and 36% (n=1,351) were recurrent users. The PER was the first treatment setting ever for 50% of the incident users. Incident users were most likely over 69 years (OR=2.84, P<0.001), employed (OR=2.21, P<0.001), or referred by a health care professional (OR=1.72, P<0.001). They were less likely to have a personality disorder (OR=0.40, P<0.001) or to have used inpatient or outpatient services in the past (OR's 0.11 and 0.65, respectively, P<0.001). About 44% were admitted, 38% referred for outpatient treatment, 9% referred to the outpatient crisis-intervention program, and 9% refused any follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The PER was a first treatment setting ever for 1 in 3 patients. Incident and recurrent users differed in sociodemographic characteristics, pathways to care, service use, and the presence of a personality disorder. They did not differ in axis 1 disorders, comorbid mental disorders, or pathways after care.

Adult↗

Predictors of assaultiveness in latency age children.

The authors evaluated the presence of assaultive behavior in 103 children, aged 6-12 years, seen in the psychiatric inpatient and outpatient services of a municipal hospital. No racial or ethnic differences were found. Boys were significantly more assaultive than girls and used fire setting and hitting with objects more often. Inpatients were significantly more assaultive than outpatients. Children with conduct disorders, specific developmental disorders, and mental retardation were more assaultive than those with neurotic disorders. Multiple regression analysis showed that the child's past aggressive behavior, absence of anxiety and depression, and parental assaultive behavior were the best predictors of assaultive behavior.

Ambulatory Care↗

The National Reporting Program for Mental Health Statistics: history and findings.

The National Reporting Program for Mental Health Statistics had its origins in the decennial U.S. census, with enumeration of the "insane and idiotic" in 1840. A series of special censuses of the insane and feebleminded in public and private hospitals and other institutions began in 1904, and annual censuses of patients in mental institutions were conducted from 1926 to 1946. The National Institute of Mental Health of the Public Health Service took over responsibility for the annual census of patients in mental institutions in 1947. Coverage and content remained the same until the mid-1960s, when only State and county mental hospitals were included in the census. Because the annual census could not provide the data needed, separate programs were begun for inpatient and outpatient service. These were integrated into the National Reporting Program in 1966. Trend data for the last 40 years describe how the specialty mental health sector has developed. Non-Federal general hospitals with separate psychiatric services increased dramatically, from 81 in 1940 to 1,531 in 1982, as did community mental health centers, from 125 in 1965 to 691 in 1980. There was generally less emphasis on inpatient care and more on outpatient care. Full-time equivalent staff in specialty mental health facilities increased from about 325,000 in 1970 to about 432,000 in 1982. Expenditures by facilities also increased dramatically.

Community Mental Health Centers↗

User fees, health staff incentives, and service utilization in Kabarole District, Uganda.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of user fees on the utilization of health services in a community-based cost-sharing scheme in Kabarole District, western Uganda. METHODS: Of the 38 government health units that had introduced user-fee financing schemes, 11 were included in the study. Outpatient utilization was assessed as the median number of visits per month before and after cost sharing began. FINDINGS: After the introduction of cost sharing, overall utilization of general outpatient services, assessed by combining the data from all the participating units, dropped by 21.3%. Utilization increased, however, in facilities located in remote areas, while it decreased in those located in urban or semi-urban areas. The increased utilization in remote facilities was considered to be largely attributable to health workers' incentive payments derived from cost-sharing revenues. CONCLUSIONS: Incentive payments led the health workers to offer improved services. Other factors may also have been influential, such as an improved drug supply to health facilities and increased public identification with community projects in remote areas.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Psychiatric crisis intervention in the general emergency service of a Veterans Affairs hospital.

An after-hours crisis intervention program staffed by psychiatric residents between 5 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on weekdays was developed in the general emergency room at a Veterans Affairs hospital to reduce inpatient psychiatric admissions. The program offered medication, family interventions, and referrals to outpatient services. In the programs's first year, inpatient admissions during the hours covered by the program decreased by 34 percent, for a net savings of nearly $400,000 in inpatient treatment costs.

Comorbidity↗

Scheduling: if your RIS cannot, perhaps your HIS can.

As the services radiology departments provide have proliferated--new modalities, additional procedures--the scheduling process has become more complex. Radiology departments have been criticized by referring physicians and their staff for difficulties they encounter when scheduling patients for procedures. In light of managed care and increased competition for outpatient services, scheduling systems should be designed with the referring physician's office as the prime customer. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has devised a collaborative, hospital-wide system for scheduling. The same system is used by The Vanderbilt Clinics, which refer a significant number of outpatient procedures to VUMC. The radiology department has tailored the system to its technical requirements, and clinic staff members can access the system directly to schedule patient appointments. Minor adjustments were made during implementation of the process. Now, appointments are made efficiently by the clinic staff, and other systems, such as the film library, are benefiting from better information and organization. VUMC has changed the scheduling process of the radiology department to reach the customers who actually promote the radiology practice. Communication between the department and the clinics has improved and a spirit of teamwork is growing.

Appointments and Schedules↗

[Use of specialist health care by the population].

BACKGROUND: Equitable use of specialist health care is a central goal of Norwegian health policy. It is, however, claimed that use of health care facilities are more determined by easy access than by need; hence that equity is not achieved. This article examines the impact on the use of health services of self-assessed health on the one hand and degree of access on the other. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from a national survey of quality of life were merged with data on capacity/access to primary and specialist health care. The data sets include individual characteristics of 3,449 persons. Binominal logistic analysis was applied. RESULTS: When compared to persons with self-assessed poor or very poor health, those with self-assessed medium-level health are less likely to use hospital inpatient and outpatient services, but not less likely to use private specialists. Furthermore, we find significant effects of accessibility on the utilization of private specialists, but not on hospitalization. INTERPRETATION: Use of hospital services is rationed according to patients' health status, and not affected by patients' access, as aimed at in national health policy. On the other hand, the use of private specialists seems to function as an alternative to general practitioner. The finding represents a challenge for national health policy.

Health Services↗

[Importance of the therapeutic alliance experience for the differential psychotherapeutic indication].

The influence of the therapeutic alliance experience on the recommendation for psychotherapy and prognosis was examined in a retrospective study. Three hundred seventy-four of 3270 patients who presented at the psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic outpatient service at the Benjamin Franklin Hospital of the Free University of Berlin between July 1994 and December 1999 were selected based on the fact that they had been examined only by a psychoanalyst and recommended for individual psychoanalytical outpatient therapy, nondirective therapy (according to Rogers) or behavioral therapy. Results of the unifactorial variance analysis: The better the alliance is assessed, the sooner procedures for psychoanalytical therapy are recommended (F = 35.85; p < 0.000) and the better the assessment of the prognosis (r = 0.68; p < 0.000). The results confirm the importance of the therapeutic working relationship and correct the assumption that the indication and prognosis are exclusively diagnosis or patient-related, clearly showing that they are the result of an interactive process.

Adult↗