Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The impact of psychiatric comorbidity on the length of hospital stay was addressed in a study of all medical/surgical patients discharged in 1984 from the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City (N = 37,370) and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago (N = 21,889). At both hospitals the mean +/- SD length of stay of the patients with psychiatric comorbidity was significantly longer than that of the other patients: 19.8 +/- 33.3 versus 9.2 +/- 15.3 days at Mount Sinai Hospital and 13.7 +/- 27.7 versus 8.3 +/- 13.2 days at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Early identification of patients with psychiatric comorbidity would permit appropriate psychosocial intervention, which might shorten their hospital stays.
Fulop et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: