The Hospital "Dumping Syndrome": Causes and Treatment
J. F. WILDER M.D.1,
BYRAM KARASU M.D.2, , and
DEBORAH KLIGLER PH.D.3
1 Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y. and Acting Director, Department of Psychiatry, Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Pelham Pkwy, and Eastchester Rd., Bronx, N.Y. 10461
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y.
3 Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y.
The authors describe a network of factors that produce and perpetuate the dumping of patients by the local hospital on the slate hospital system. A change in policy, placing local and state wards under the same administrative authority, alters the feedback process and reduces dumping. This improvement may be achieved not by adding resources but by understanding and by altering the structure of the current system.
