Analysis of psychiatric inpatients in a general hospital

A descriptive study on psychiatric inpatients of a general hospital was conducted. During a four-year- and -ten-month period, 1390 hospitalization admissions were analysed. Among them, 436 (31.4%) were diagnosed as mood disorder, 431 (31.0%) were schizophrenia, followed by other psychosis (231 admissions, 16.6%), organic mental disorder (164 admissions, 11.8%), neurosis (116 admissions, 8.3%) and other mental disorders (12 admissions, 0.9%). Male was predominant in organic mental disorders, while female was predominant in all the other diagnosis. The mean of hospitalization days was 34.7 +/- 27.4 days. Readmission was noted in 47.1% of total admissions, indicating that "revolving door syndrome" was also noted among mentally ill in our country. Schizophrenic patients had the longest hospitalizations and the highest readmission rate. Patients who were discharged against advise comprise 14.6% of all admissions. This frequency is within the estimate of 6.8% and 23.4% in other hospitals. Others characteristics of psychiatric inpatients in the general hospital were also discussed.