Improving Patient Flow on Adult Mental Health Units: A multimodal Study of Canberra Hospital's Acute Psychiatric Facilities.

BACKGROUND Due to increasing demands on limited resources in the health care system, many hospitals are working to improve patient flow, thereby increasing their effective capacity. Identifying barriers to patient flow provides the best available evidence to improve such flow in The Canberra Hospital's acute psychiatric units. METHODS This audit uses a multi-method design (combining focus groups, audits of flow in mental health units and retrospective data analysis on a cross-section of patients) to investigate current patterns of patient flow and barriers to discharge through the Canberra Hospital Mental Health Assessment & Adult Mental Health Units, and factors associated with increased length of stay. RESULTS Mean LoS for MHAU and AMHU was 8.45 hours and 15 days respectively. Multiple factors were associated with an increased LoS including patient factors, certain hospital processes, and limited availability of community services. CONCLUSIONS These findings inform recommendations on improving patient flow and future research to support increases in available funding, staffing and resources.