TY - JOUR

T1 - Treatment profiles in a Danish psychiatric university hospital department

AU - Okkels, Niels

AU - Mogensen, Rasmus Beyer

AU - Crean, Lea Catherine

AU - Vestergaard, Claus Høstrup

AU - Skadhede, Søren

AU - Rasmussen, Camilla

AU - Shanmuganathan, Jan Walter Dhillon

AU - Hansen, Kenneth Brandt

AU - Munk-Jørgensen, Povl

PY - 2017/5

Y1 - 2017/5

N2 - BACKGROUND: Despite concerns about rising treatment of psychiatric patients with psychotropic medications and declining treatment with psychotherapy, actual treatment profiles of psychiatric patients are largely unknown.AIMS: To describe patterns in the treatment of patients in a large psychiatric university hospital department.METHODS: A descriptive mapping of treatment of in- and outpatients in a psychiatric department at Aarhus University Hospital Risskov, Denmark. Information was collected by healthcare staff using a 25-item survey form. The p-value was calculated with a chi-squared test and p < 0.05 was considered significant. The study was preceded by a pilot study on 41 patients.RESULTS: Over a 1 month period, a total of 343 consecutive patients were assessed and hereof 200 were included in the age range 18-90 years (mean 53.76); 86 men and 114 women. One-hundred and eighty-eight patients (94%) used psychotropic medication, 37 (19%) as monotherapy, and 148 (74%) in combination with non-pharmacological therapy. Ninety-seven (49%) had psychotherapy and 104 (52%) social support. Among inpatients, 21 (64%) had physical therapy, and 10 (30%) electroconvulsive therapy. In total, 163 (82%) had non-pharmacological therapy. Fifty-two (26%) patients had monotherapy, and 148 (74%) polytherapy. Mean number of treatment modalities used per patient was 2.07 for all patients and 3.23 for inpatients.CONCLUSIONS: In this department, polytherapy including non-pharmacological modalities is applied widely across all settings and patient categories. However, psychotropic medication clearly dominates as the most frequently applied treatment.

AB - BACKGROUND: Despite concerns about rising treatment of psychiatric patients with psychotropic medications and declining treatment with psychotherapy, actual treatment profiles of psychiatric patients are largely unknown.AIMS: To describe patterns in the treatment of patients in a large psychiatric university hospital department.METHODS: A descriptive mapping of treatment of in- and outpatients in a psychiatric department at Aarhus University Hospital Risskov, Denmark. Information was collected by healthcare staff using a 25-item survey form. The p-value was calculated with a chi-squared test and p < 0.05 was considered significant. The study was preceded by a pilot study on 41 patients.RESULTS: Over a 1 month period, a total of 343 consecutive patients were assessed and hereof 200 were included in the age range 18-90 years (mean 53.76); 86 men and 114 women. One-hundred and eighty-eight patients (94%) used psychotropic medication, 37 (19%) as monotherapy, and 148 (74%) in combination with non-pharmacological therapy. Ninety-seven (49%) had psychotherapy and 104 (52%) social support. Among inpatients, 21 (64%) had physical therapy, and 10 (30%) electroconvulsive therapy. In total, 163 (82%) had non-pharmacological therapy. Fifty-two (26%) patients had monotherapy, and 148 (74%) polytherapy. Mean number of treatment modalities used per patient was 2.07 for all patients and 3.23 for inpatients.CONCLUSIONS: In this department, polytherapy including non-pharmacological modalities is applied widely across all settings and patient categories. However, psychotropic medication clearly dominates as the most frequently applied treatment.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1080/08039488.2017.1279212

DO - 10.1080/08039488.2017.1279212

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28112009

VL - 71

SP - 289

EP - 295

JO - Nordic Journal of Psychiatry

JF - Nordic Journal of Psychiatry

SN - 0803-9488

IS - 4

ER -