title: A short-term psychiatric inpatient program for adolescents.
abstract: Third-party payers have become increasingly unwilling to fund long-term hospitalizations for adolescents. Inpatient adolescent programs have had to develop strategies to treat this difficult patient population much more rapidly. In late 1989 a short-term adolescent treatment program, known as the STAT program, was developed and implemented at a private psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts. The program aimed for a two- to three-week length of stay, a reduction of 30 to 50 percent. To accomplish this goal, the program shifted from a treatment-based approach to a focus on crisis management, patient evaluation and stabilization, and transition to outpatient services. Many staff concerns were allayed during the program's implementation. Short-term treatment for adolescents can be viable if appropriate exclusion criteria are developed for admissions and an adequate range of outpatient treatment services are available.
authors.affiliation: Education Department, Charles River Hospital, Wellesley, Massachusetts 12181.
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ritorto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends*; D016304:Hospitals, Private; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000639:trends*; D008884:Milieu Therapy; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief