Length of Stay and Recidivism on a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit

The conclusions in this article are derived from a study of 887 patient records, who were admitted to a psychiatric intensive care unit, between 1983 and 1991. The relationship between reason for referral and recidivism was explored by comparing aggressive or suicidal patients, who had one or two admissions, with those who had three or more. Findings suggest that suicidal recidivism was 1.7% for the patients with more than 3 visits, while for aggressive patients recidivism was 3.7%.