Investigation of Involuntary Hospitalization in the Files of Patients Referred from Governing Board to Psychiatric Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Psychiatric hospitalized patients by judicial letters are important groups, which deprives the physician of authority to make decision. One of the medical principles is to patients' rights. Objective: The aim of this study to investigate the cases of people referred by the judiciary to Shafa center. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on the files of 217 people referred from governing board to Shafa Hospital in Rasht in 2018 and according to the checklist, the variables were extracted from files, such as demographic characteristics, referral reasons, criminal history, history of psychiatric disorders, and hospitalization in psychiatric hospital, and psychiatric diagnosis of the type of disorder. After collecting the data, they were analyzed by in IBM SPSS statistics version 21. Results: The highest population was male (96.8%), urban (78.8%), and single (57.6%). 78.3% had a history of hospitalization, 82.5% had a history of psychiatric illness. 99.9% of cases had a psychiatric diagnosis. The most common psychiatric diagnosis was schizophrenia with 37.5% of cases. In terms of the reason for referral, 49.9% were sent-out and hospitalization and 29.6% were in need of treatment. There was a significant relationship between the history of psychiatric disorder and criminal history. But there was no significant relationship between age, education, employment status and history of psychiatric disorder. Conclusion: The study showed that only for existence of a judicial letter, the label of a psychiatric patient can certainly not be affixed to the person. Also, the high percentage of the final diagnosis indicates a better relationship between governing board and the medical system in referring individuals. This issue again highlights the need for more communication between the judicial system and medical centers to refer patients.