Length of psychiatric inpatient stay: comparison of mental health care outlining a case mix from a hospital

Background: It is documented in the literature that inpatient stay is shorter in a general hospital in the USA com-pared to Germany. The aim of this study was to compare psychiatric inpatient stay in a hospital in the USA to a hospital in Germany, focusing on major psychiatric diseases and suggesting possible differences. Methods: The data was collected from 1996 until 2001 at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, United States of America and the Medical School of Hannover, Germany. The information regarding length of hospital stay was ob-tained from the hospital’s internal database between 1996-2000 with a total number of 11937 in the USA and 5544 patients in Germany (study I). To focus on the possible cause additional data (study II) was collected from 12 patients on an inpatient ward in each country on demographic data. Results: The average inpatient stay for mental health patients were significantly shorter in the USA, Charity Hospital compared to Germany, Medical school. In the USA the average stay for patients with schizophrenic disorders was 21(+5.42) days (Germany; 37 days +4.18), with bipolar disorder 15 +6.23 (40 +7.71) days and with major de-pression 11+3.37 (51+10.54) days. Nevertheless the data (study II) revealed that psychiatric patients in the USA were not discharged with severe psychopathology. Discussion: Shorter length of stay is probably caused by cultural differences and discharging patients to aftercare facili