Social Factors in the Utilization of an Urban Psychiatric Emergency Service

Abstract

Admissions to the psychiatric emergency service of an inner-city university hospital are analyzed from two perspectives. (1) Characteristics of patients and the areas in which they reside are described with focus directed toward social characteristics found to be associated with high admission rates. (2) The ways in which a hospital, by virtue of its organizational structure, might contribute to misuse of its emergency facilities by patients are explored. Based on both modes of analysis, suggestions are offered for ways in which services may be altered to more effectively meet the treatment needs of inner-city populations.