Some problems of psychiatric care unit in a general hospital I: Concerning decision of admission to hospital
Pazzagli, A.; Faravelli, C.; Neri, T.
Rivista di Patologia Nervosa E Mentale 100(2): 57-68
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-6433 PMID: 547383 Document Number: 149401
Over a thousand patients a year request hospitalization at the Psychiatric Admission Unit of the Region General Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. About five hundred are actually hospitalized, less than half. Decision to hospitalize depends on several factors: a) factors relating to the patient (the psychopathological picture, the severity of his condition, his family background etc.); b) factors relating to the doctor on duty (degree of experience, attitude toward the patients, theoretical view toward hospitalization etc.); c) practical and administrative factors (service situation, day of the week, time of the day etc.). On the other hand the doctor's attitude may be that of undertaking care of the patient's psychiatric needs or not. This behaviour is largely independent from the decision to hospitaliz or not. Hospitalization does not necessarily mean taking care of the patient from a psychiatric point of view (hospital seen as a parking place, for example) and, vice versa, treatment can be planned without hospitalizing the patient who asks for it. Thus, there are four possibilities in a Psychiatric Admission Unit: a) hospitalization and care of the patient; b) no hospitalization but care of the patient; c) hospitalization without care of the patient; d) no hospitalization and no care of the patient. These four situations discussed with appropriate examples. The emotional attitude of the psychiatrist in his relationship with the patients who request admission is viewed as the most important factor for a correct decision.