Clinicians' attitudes about the posthospitalization outcome of patients
who are irregularly discharged from the hospital (i.e., against medical
advice or AWOL) have been pessimistic, but unsystematic follow-up data of
such patients compared with regularly discharged patients suggest that
outcomes for the two groups are similar. Because of this discrepancy, the
authors used data from a controlled, systematic study of a large sample of
voluntary inpatients that measured global outcome over 2 years. Their
findings suggest that 1 year and 2 years after admission, most patients who
were irregularly discharged had outcomes similar to those of patients with
regular discharges. There was, however, a subgroup of irregularly
discharged patients who had worse outcomes.Abstract Teaser