title: Uses of a psychiatric case register. Evaluation studies.
abstract: The Groningen case register, modelled after the Camberwell register, was initiated with a point prevalence count on the 31st of December 1973, and accumulates since data on contacts with psychiatric services of all people in a small town in the north of the Netherlands, with a population of 43,783 inhabitants. It has been running smoothly for the past twelve years with increasing interest and involvement on the part of the field workers and policy makers. Examples are given of the use of the register in evaluating new services, patterns of care, continuity of care and deinstitutionalization, in which it has proved its value as a tool for evaluation.
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006285:Health Planning; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009426:Netherlands; D012042:Registries