Effects of transfer of chronic patients to a short-stay hospital

Abstract

For administrative reasons, 143 chronic patients were transferred from a suburban state hospital to an urban short-term state hospital. They were compared with (1) patients similar in age, diagnosis, and sex who were admitted directly to the urban hospital, and (2) patients similar in age, diagnosis, and sex who were not transferred from the suburban hospital.

The transferred patients were rated as more severely ill than patients in the other two groups, and a greater percent exhibit symptoms such as social withdrawal and isolation.

Fourteen months after the transfer took place, 72% of the directly-admitted patients had been discharged, 35% of the transferees had been discharged, and only 5% of the non-transferred patients had been discharged. In addition, 23% of the directly-admitted dischargees had been readmitted, as compared with three and zero percent of the other groups. These results are discussed in terms of the interaction between acuteness and chronicity, and administrative discharge policies.