Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:922-924
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
A five-year study of brief hospitalization
M Swartzburg and A Schwartz
The authors compare their experience with 4 years on a brief
hospitalization unit based on crisis theory with a fifth year on the same
unit based on a traditional psychiatric approach. In terms of demographic
and diagnostic variables and rehospitalization rates, they found that the
change in approach had no significant effect on the type of patient
admitted or the treatment outcome. The fact that certain tasks necessary
for rapid discharge were effectively performed accounted for the success of
the unit.
