Effecting Readmission of Adolescent Mental Health Patients

This evidence based project looked at the readmission rates of adolescent mental health patients in a 30 day period and addressed the possible clinical gap that exists and the potential interventions that may alter this rate. Readmissions in this population group is a notable occurrence and depending on the patient diagnosis rates may be higher or lower. Although readmission rates of mental health patients when looked over a long period of time (i.e. greater than one year) are extremely high, it is within the first 30 days of discharge that we find it the highest. This gap in care is important to look into and address, because not only is it costly, but it greatly affects the patient's quality of life. Possible reasons as to why these rates are notable were looked into as well as potential interventions to alter these rates. Barriers to care were also explored and possible ways to overcome them were addressed.