Patients who do well and who do less well in an inpatient adolescent unit.

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the study was to investigate whether patient characteristics such as age, sex, length of inpatient stay and reason for admission were related to positive or negative treatment outcome at an adolescent inpatient unit.
METHOD: This study employed a prospective cohort design in the form of a clinical audit. Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) pre- and post-admission scores were compared for the whole sample and across diagnoses.
RESULTS: While there was a significant reduction overall in symptoms following an inpatient stay, patient characteristics and reason for admission were not related to outcomes at a statistically significant level.
CONCLUSIONS: This inpatient unit generally functions as a short stay unit and as a result it is difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions as to what sort of patient would benefit most from an admission to the unit.