Psychiatric Home Hospitalisation Unit of the Hospital del Mar. A crisis resolution and home treatment team in Barcelona

Abstract

IntroductionAlthough home hospitalisation has begun to develop widely in recent years there is a notable lack of studies. The following study includes data from the Psychiatric Home Hospitalisation Unit of the Hospital del Mar (HADMar). This programme has been running for 2 years and takes place in a socio-demographically depressed area in Barcelona. It receives patients from community and hospital services. Monitoring is limited in time and at discharge patient are referred to the ambulatory unit. Material and methodsAll patients visited from 2015 to the present time were selected. A total of 135 patients were included in the sample. A qualitative descriptive study was carried out in order to define the socio-demographic characteristics. The severity of symptoms, suicidal risk and changes in the functionality were considered as clinical outcomes. ResultsThe mean age of patients was 44.6 years and there were no gender differences. A total of 26 patients had a history of suicidal attempts and 11.1% lived alone; 51.1% were diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. The mean GEP score for the severity of the psychiatric symptoms was 2.39 and the mean risk of suicide was 0.49. There is an increase in the EEAG score from admission to discharge, which means an improvement in the functionality of patients. ConclusionsThe results obtained in our study are consistent with previous results. Home crisis intervention teams have proved to be an alternative to traditional hospitalisation. However, more studies are needed to support these results.