Impact of Staff Attention on Predicting Post-Discharge Community Tenure of Psychiatric Inpatients

Overall staff attention received by patients strongly predicts inpatient unit effectiveness. The authors examined whether attention received influences relations among patient outcomes and powerful individual predictors-chronicity and premorbid competency. Data were from 22 public units serving 673 short- and long-stay patients. Unit attention rates were derived from reliable direct observations collected over 7 days. Lifetime hospitalization and functioning records provided chronicity and premorbid competency indicators. Six-month outcomes were continuous community-tenure days post-discharge. Patients with lower chronicity and higher premorbid competency achieved longer tenure at lower attention rates. As attention increased, only chronicity predicted outcomes. Staff attention explained more outcome variance (higher attention predicts better outcomes). Administrators should monitor the quantity and quality of staff-patient interactions to successfully deliver evidence-based practices.