"No-commitment week": a feasibility study.
To determine the extent to which involuntary hospitalization is overused, a "No-Commitment Week" was set aside, during which emergency room psychiatrists committed only patients in absolute need of hospitalization. Compared with the week before and the week after, there was no significant difference in the number of patients committed during No-Commitment Week. The authors propose replication of the study on a larger scale but suggest that decisions about involuntary hospitalization in public mental hospitals are the result of societal attitudes, which will be subject to change as long as society itself continues to change.
D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D003657:Decision Making; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards; D006760:Hospitalization; D006773:Hospitals, Municipal / Q000592:standards; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006783:Hospitals, State / Q000592:standards; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data