title: Admission of people with dementia to psychiatric hospitals in Japan: factors that can shorten their hospitalizations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  People exhibiting serious behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia are usually voluntarily or involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals for treatment. In Japan, the average hospital stay for individuals with dementia is about 2 years. Ideally, individuals should be discharged once their symptoms have subsided. However, we see cases in Japan where individuals remain institutionalized long after behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia are no longer apparent. This study will attempt to identify factors contributing to shorter stays in psychiatric hospitals for dementia patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires consisting of 17 items were mailed to 121 psychiatric hospitals with dementia treatment wards in western Japan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 121 hospitals that received the questionnaires, 45 hospitals returned them. The total number of new patient admissions at all 45 hospitals during the month of August 2014 was 1428, including 384 dementia patients (26.9%). The average length of stay in the dementia wards in August 2014 was 482.7 days. Our findings revealed that the rate of discharge after 2 months was 35.4% for the dementia wards. In addition, we found that the average stay in hospitals charging or planning to charge the rehabilitation fee to dementia patients was significantly shorter than in hospitals not charging the rehabilitation fee.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Japan, dementia patients account for over 25% of new admissions to psychiatric hospitals with dementia wards. The average length of stay in a psychiatric hospital dementia ward is more than 1 year. A discharge after fewer than 2 months is exceedingly rare for those in a dementia ward compared with dementia patients in other wards. If institutions focus on rehabilitation, it may be possible to shorten the stay of dementia patients in psychiatric hospitals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.|Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan.|Medical Center for Dementia, Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Tohmi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Osaki
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kajita
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Kayano
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yotsumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawamata
mesh_terms: D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: dementia; dementia ward; length of stay in psychiatric hospital; psychiatric hospitals; rehabilitation for people with dementia