Descriptive Study of Psychiatric Readmissions in Baqiyatallah and Noorafshar Hospitals, 2000-2001

Aims. Psychiatric readmission of military personnel causes additional costs to the military health systems. The aim of this study was to describe the cases of psychiatric readmissions of the military personnel in Baqiyatallah and Noorafshar hospitals. Methods. In this observational (cross sectional) study, 669 psychiatric readmissions in Baqiyatallah and Noorafshar hospitals during two years of 2000-2001 were analyzed. Demographic data (including age, sex, job, marital status, and educational level), psychiatric history (including cigarette smoking, addiction, legal history, number of psychiatric drugs, history of psychotherapy, history of ECT, and presence of stressors in life) and readmission related variables (including last diagnosis, number of re-hospitalizations, stability of patients at discharge, cause of readmission, and cause of stopping of the drug) were registered, trough an interview between a psychologist and the patients. Results. 88% of patients were male. Mean age of the patients was 36.7 ± 8.17 years. In 41%, educational level was primary. 56% were jobless. The most prevalent diagnosis was mood disorders (42%) following with psychosis (30%). 67% of patients were re-hospitalized because of poor compliance. Sense of improvement, side effects, no access to medications, no access to physicians were in cause of stopping the medications in 50%, 43%, 5%, and 2%. Conclusion. Close follow up of the patients, outpatient visits with a short time interval and using family support (especially in patients with mood and psychiatric disorders) may probably decrease the rate of psychiatric re-hospitalizations, which prevents excessive costs. In order to achieve a better patient perception of the disorder and importance of using the drugs, expression and description may be used.