AbstractBackground: Prolonged hospital stays can signal underlying clinical, social, and systemic inefficiencies that contribute to delayed discharges. Factors such as clinical severity, social challenges, and the organization of healthcare systems are pertinent to the duration of hospitalization. Objective: This study was designed to explore the average length of stay (LOS) at Al-Rashad Training Psychiatric Hospital and to analyze sociodemographic as well as certain clinical characteristics associated with extended psychiatric admissions.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patient records over a three-year span from 2019 to 2021 at Al-Rashad Training Psychiatric Hospital, focusing on patients discharged during this timeframe. Data collection encompassed sociodemographic details and clinical attributes of the psychiatric admissions.
Results: Our findings indicate that 58% of patients experienced hospital stays exceeding six months, whereas 42% were hospitalized for shorter durations. Extended stays were notably correlated with the following factors: a younger age demographic (≤ 35 years) at 67.3%, education at primary level or below (62.3%), unemployment status (55.4%), psychiatric comorbidity (87.5%), medical comorbidity (66.1%), diagnosis of schizophrenic disorder (58.8%), necessity for mood stabilizers (65.2%), presence of extrapyramidal symptoms (80.0%), and the requirement for psychotherapy (78.0%).
Conclusions: The long hospitalization in Al-Rashad Training Hospital may be due to lack of social and family support, the lack of availability of community care services. Large proportions of patients were single young-aged, unemployed, and poorly educated. There were significant proportions of our patients were experiencing a psychosis with a chronic course, and with a comorbid psychiatric and medical disorder.
