A study of factors influencing the duration of stay in forensic psychiatric ward patients

Background: Psychiatric patients who are admitted in to forensic psychiatric ward have frequent hospital admissions and prolonged length of hospital stay, may be due to the growing demands in health services and the limitation of resources of patients and their care takers. Aim and objectives: To study the mean duration of stay in psychiatric forensic wards and to study the socio demographic factors of the admitted patients and their clinical profile. Materials and methods: A total of 150 case records fulfilling criteria for study were taken. Semi -structured proforma for socio demographic and clinical variables were used and analyzed using SPSS. Results: Mean duration of hospital stay in closed ward patients was 92.47 and the mean duration of hospital stay was 21.9 days in patients whose reception order had a clear mention of free citizen and can be handed over to family members in comparison 38.9 days in “To be produced before the court”, 33.71 days in reception order having “Yet to be clarified”. Conclusion: Socio-demographic factors like educational level, clinical diagnosis, details of the reception order regarding discharge status, residential status after discharge are significant factors which influenced the duration of hospital stay in forensic ward patients. We also noticed that certain phrasings of the reception order have much significantly influenced the delay in the discharge.