Psychiatric admission and readmission in a general hospital of Porto Alegre: sociodemographic, clinic, and use of Network for Psychosocial Care characteristics.

INTRODUCTION: The revolving door phenomenon is characterized by repeated and frequent psychiatric readmissions.
OBJECTIVE: We aim to investigate sociodemographic, clinic, and follow-up characteristics in health services associated to psychiatric admissions and readmissions of inpatients in a general hospital of Porto Alegre.
METHODS: It is a cross-sectional study with a sample of 96 participants.
RESULTS: More than half of the sample (53.1%) were female, 51% were single, and the average age was 44.3 years old. From clinic data, 36% (n = 35) of the users were in their first admission, and 36% (n = 35) met the criteria for frequent readmission. The results show that users with frequent readmissions significantly mentioned fewer people on whom they could rely. Alternatively, users in first admission lived with a significant larger number of people than the rest of the sample and had, with less frequency, bond with health services other than hospitals, using hospitals as an entrance door to mental health care. Regarding follow-up in the network, 34.4% of the sample did not visit often NPC services before admission, and only 4.1% used psychosocial rehabilitation services.
CONCLUSION: We highlight the importance of hospitals as an articulation point in the network, and as strategic to connect with NPC services. In spite of international literature investigation and registration of the frequent psychiatric readmission phenomenon, we notice it is a field that needs greater investigation in Brazil.