New strategies for the general hospital psychiatrist: The complexity of care prediction. A European study

A new model is presented for the prediction of complexity of care for inpatients admitted to General Hospital, developed in a Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry setting. The paper reports about the Modena University data set from a multicentric European research project, funded by the European Union. The Complexity of Care Index (CCI), its conceptual origins and its relations to length of hospital stay and subjective judgement of complexity by doctors and nurses are discussed. We describe a two-step procedure for the detection and treatment planning of complex patients at their admission, using a 8 items screening instrument (COMPRI: COMplexity of care PRediction Instrument), whose development is illustrated. The first results of the project, their relevance in relation to previous works addressing the same research area and their consequences for service planning and provision, particularly concerning C/L Psychiatry, are considered.