5.5 Factors Influencing Psychiatric Readmissions and the Largest Barriers to Care in the Bay Area, California

Abstract

In adults, a number of studies have pointed to various factors that increase risk of a psychiatric hospital readmission. These factors include history of mental illness, severity of disease, length of stay, and discharge planning and follow-up evaluations. There are, however, only limited studies investigating these factors within the pediatric, adolescent, and young adult populations. Our study objective is to do as follows: 1) to determine the major factors that contribute to psychiatric readmissions in children and adolescents; and 2) to identify the largest barriers to accessing mental health care after an inpatient psychiatric admission.