NCJ Number
138083
Journal
Hospital and Community Psychiatry Volume: 41 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1990) Pages: 172-174
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Data on patient census, bed capacity, and staffing levels in State-operated forensic psychiatric inpatient programs in 1986 were collected from forensic mental health directors of the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
Abstract
For survey purposes, forensic services were defined as programs that treat the following patient categories: not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty but mentally ill, incompetent to stand trial, undergoing inpatient forensic examinations, and transferred from State or local corrections facilities. The survey found that of the 75 programs identified, 54 were based in units within larger psychiatric hospitals and 21 in freestanding hospitals. For all programs, direct-care staff-patient ratios ranged from .35 to 4, with a mean of 1.3. The ratio of filled beds to bed capacity ranged from .5 to 1.54, with a mean of .95. Nearly one-fourth of the programs were over capacity. A negative relationship between filled-bed ratios and direct-care staff-patient ratios was found. It is unlikely that facilities deliberately admit more patients than they can accommodate. Patient census in excess of capacity suggests that the physical and personnel resources of the program or facility are not matched with the demand for services. 3 tables and 14 references