title: Predicting which patients will be discharged against medical advice: a pilot study.
abstract: Studies of patients signing out against medical advice (AMA) from a psychiatric service have been retrospective and inconsistent or contradictory in their findings. The authors report findings from a prospective study in which data from a brief structured interview of patients at the time of admission were used to predict subsequent AMA behavior. They achieved 80% accuracy. Critical variables centered around the nature of the "treatment contract" as perceived by the patient: AMA patients never intended to stay in the hospital for more than a few days.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*