Discharge management in psychiatric hospitals.

This research project concerning discharge management in psychiatric hospitals is commissioned by the Federal Public Service Health, Food chain safety and Environment. Four objectives are stipulated in an agreement between this Federal Public Service and an interuniversity research team. This research project has the objective to finalize and validate a job description concerning discharge management in psychiatric hospitals. In the course of this process, it is necessary to link this job profile with other professions in the context of psychiatric healthcare, such as: a coordinator of patient care, a coordinator of therapeutic projects, and a case manager who works with drug-dependent patients during a crisis situation. A third objective is to put a screening tool into practice which can be used to detect high-risk patients in different target groups. The relevance, feasibility and validity of this tool will be tested in clinical practice, and in- and exclusion criteria will be defined to include patients in a program of discharge management. Finally, two intervision meetings will be organized for all discharge managers of participating psychiatric hospitals. These meetings aim at supporting discharge managers during implementation of discharge management.

Keywords:Discharge coordinator, Acute psychiatry, Discharge planning, Discharge management, Psychiatric hospitals

Disciplines:Public health care