"Who Goes There?"—A Critical Evaluation of Admissions to a Psychiatric Day Hospital
GERARD E. HOGARTY M.S.W.1,
HELEN DENNIS 2,
WILLIAM GUY PH.D.3, , and
GERTRUDE M. GROSS M.D.4
1 Special studies section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health
2 Research analyst with Springfield State Hospital
3 Biometric laboratory, George Washington University, Washington, D. C.
4 Director of the Baltimore Psychiatric Day Center, Baltimore, Md.
Day hospitalization has been cited as a means of circumventing inpatient confinement. This would imply, however, that day hospital patients are representative of inpatient admissions. Comparing Baltimore Psychiatric Day Center patients with other patient groups, these authors found that the day hospital sample does not resemble a typical inpatient group. Both day center admission criteria and community referral sources foster selectivity along socioeconomic and symptomatologic lines, so that day hospitalization, as it is currently practiced, does not necessarily represent a true alternative to inpatient hospitalization.
