Predictors of rehospitalization in high-utilizing patients in the VA psychiatric medical system

Psychiatr Q. 2012 Mar;83(1):53-64. doi: 10.1007/s11126-011-9182-2.

Abstract

233 high-service-utilizing (HSU) psychiatric patients were recruited during an inpatient psychiatric treatment. They completed a questionnaire related to their treatment beliefs and were tracked via computerized medical records over 2 years. During the follow-up period, 79.8% were readmitted for additional inpatient psychiatric treatment. Survival analysis techniques were used to examine patients' rates of readmittance during the follow-up period. Number of previous year inpatient psychiatric days served as a significant predictor of readmittance status and time to readmission. The survival plot was split by previous-year inpatient days to examine the effect of this variable on readmission. Implications of findings are discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Emergency Services, Psychiatric / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Health Behavior*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Medical Records Systems, Computerized
  • Mental Disorders / epidemiology
  • Mental Disorders / psychology
  • Mental Disorders / therapy*
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Patient Readmission / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychiatric Department, Hospital / statistics & numerical data
  • Risk Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*
  • Survival Analysis
  • Time Factors
  • Veterans / psychology
  • Veterans / statistics & numerical data