Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
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Re-admissions to Irish Psychiatric Hospitals and Units 2001–
2005
Antoinette Daly BA (Hons) Psychology, MA (Applied
Psychology), PG Dip Stats
Research Officer
Mental Health Research Unit
Health Research Board
Knockmaun House
42–47 Lower Mount Street
Dublin 2
t + 353 1 2345142
e adaly@hrb.ie
Dr Donna Tedstone Doherty PhD
Senior Researcher
Mental Health Research Unit
Health Research Board
Knockmaun House
42–47 Lower Mount Street
Dublin 2
Dr Dermot Walsh FRCPI
Principal Investigator
Mental Health Research Unit
Health Research Board
Knockmaun House
42–47 Lower Mount Street
Dublin 2
Introduction
The re-admission rate has been proposed as one indicator of the
effectiveness of the transition to community care (Lien, 2002) with
some studies proposing that the increasing number of re-admissions
to psychiatric hospitals is a consequence of the policy of
deinstitutionalisation and the resulting transition to community care
(May, 1976; Kastrup, 1987a; Kastrup, 1987b). Revolving door or
heavy users have been defined as those patients with four or more
admissions during a minimum of a five-year study period (Kastrup,
1987b; Lewis and Joyce, 1990; Korkeila et al., 1995; Gastal et al.,
2000). Some studies have found certain diagnoses such as
schizophrenia, affective disorders and personality disorders to be
associated with re-admissions whilst other studies have found
revolving door patients to be younger, male, single or divorced,
unemployed and in the lower socio-economic groups (Woogh, 1986;
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