Influences on fit between psychiatric patients' psychosocial needs and their hospital discharge plan

OBJECTIVE: The study examined factors that help determine a good or poor fit between the psychosocial support needs of hospitalized patients and the hospital's discharge plan. METHODS: The Mount Sinai Discharge Planning Inventory was completed weekly for 494 consecutive admissions to the hospital's adult inpatient psychiatric units. The resources that patients brought with them into the hospitalization in the areas of housing, entitlements, daily activities, and psychiatric treatment were recorded as well as the resources that would constitute an optimal discharge plan. Good or poor fit was operationally defined by the match between the optimal, first-choice plan and the implemented discharge plan. RESULTS: One-third of admissions were found to have an optimal fit on admission in all resource categories studied. For patients who entered the hospital with suboptimal resources, discharge planing was significantly more likely to establish clinically relevant psychiatric treatment options and to strengthen daily living activities than to change housing resources. Certain diagnoses and a history of drug abuse, criminality, violence, and treatment noncompliance were associated with poorer fits with first-choice disposition options. CONCLUSIONS: The Mount Sinai Discharge Planning Inventory provides a method to systematically evaluate discharge planning by tracking progress toward securing relevant posthospital care and support.