DAY HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS: A UNIQUE TREATMENT GROUP?

The article provides an overview of the day hospital admissions in the U.S. One of the more impressive advantages cited by early proponents of the psychiatric day center was the ability of such programs to circumvent full-time hospitalization. Day center patients have been found to differ from average inpatient admissions both in symptomatology and in demographic characteristics. Clinical differences between day center and hospital admissions were found primarily in ideational symptoms. Day centers were less ideationally disturbed than their full-time counterparts.