First contact with the psychiatric treatment organization and later utilization of care services Randomized trial of inpatient psychiatric treatment versus outpatient care with a 5-year follow-up

Fifty-one patients aged 18 to 63 years, new to psychiatry and presenting as emergencies at a psychiatric clinic in Oulu, Finland, were randomly allocated to inpatient or outpatient care. Both groups were followed up through hospital records for 5 years. The follow-up period showed no significant differences between the two groups in the use of psychiatric outpatient care. However, the patients who were hospitalized on their first contact with the psychiatric care organization used more inpatient treatment than the patients allocated to outpatient care. This finding suggests that the first contact with the psychiatric care organization tends to influence the future use of the mental health services. On the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAFS), the general functioning levels of the two groups did not differ at the 2-year follow-up.