title: Treatment profiles in a Danish psychiatric university hospital department.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite concerns about rising treatment of psychiatric patients with psychotropic medications and declining treatment with psychotherapy, actual treatment profiles of psychiatric patients are largely unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe patterns in the treatment of patients in a large psychiatric university hospital department.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive mapping of treatment of in- and outpatients in a psychiatric department at Aarhus University Hospital Risskov, Denmark. Information was collected by healthcare staff using a 25-item survey form. The p-value was calculated with a chi-squared test and p < 0.05 was considered significant. The study was preceded by a pilot study on 41 patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over a 1 month period, a total of 343 consecutive patients were assessed and hereof 200 were included in the age range 18-90 years (mean 53.76); 86 men and 114 women. One-hundred and eighty-eight patients (94%) used psychotropic medication, 37 (19%) as monotherapy, and 148 (74%) in combination with non-pharmacological therapy. Ninety-seven (49%) had psychotherapy and 104 (52%) social support. Among inpatients, 21 (64%) had physical therapy, and 10 (30%) electroconvulsive therapy. In total, 163 (82%) had non-pharmacological therapy. Fifty-two (26%) patients had monotherapy, and 148 (74%) polytherapy. Mean number of treatment modalities used per patient was 2.07 for all patients and 3.23 for inpatients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this department, polytherapy including non-pharmacological modalities is applied widely across all settings and patient categories. However, psychotropic medication clearly dominates as the most frequently applied treatment.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Affective Disorders , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.|b Psychiatric Research Academy , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.|c Clinic for OCD and Anxiety , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okkels
authors.affiliation: d Department of Organic Psychiatric Disorders and Emergency Ward , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Rasmus Beyer
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Mogensen
authors.affiliation: b Psychiatric Research Academy , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.|e Department of Mathematics , Aarhus University , Aarhus , Denmark.
authors.forename: Lea Catherine
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Crean
authors.affiliation: d Department of Organic Psychiatric Disorders and Emergency Ward , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Claus Høstrup
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Vestergaard
authors.affiliation: d Department of Organic Psychiatric Disorders and Emergency Ward , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skadhede
authors.affiliation: d Department of Organic Psychiatric Disorders and Emergency Ward , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: d Department of Organic Psychiatric Disorders and Emergency Ward , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Jan Walter Dhillon
authors.initials: JWD
authors.lastname: Shanmuganathan
authors.affiliation: d Department of Organic Psychiatric Disorders and Emergency Ward , Aarhus University Hospital Risskov , Risskov , Denmark.
authors.forename: Kenneth Brandt
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: f Department of Psychiatry , Odense University Hospital , Odense , Denmark.
authors.forename: Povl
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Munk-Jørgensen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003718:Denmark; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012944:Social Support; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs
keywords: Prescription patterns; drug therapy; pharmacoepidemiology; physiotherapy; practice patterns; psychotherapy; social support