• Alfonso González, Camila Díaz, Cristián Mena, Cristián Valenzuela, Antonia Cooper, Patricio Inostroza, Benjamín Coloma, María José Serrano, and Francisco Gil.
• Instituto Psiquiátrico "Dr. José Horwitz B.", Santiago, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2023 Aug 1; 151 (8): 107810871078-1087.

BackgroundThe Public Health Services at the Metropolitan Region (MR) of Chile have nine acute psychiatric beds per 100,000 inhabitants, under international recommendations.AimThe present study will evaluate the resolution capacity of the main MR Psychiatric Emergency Room (PER), which may help assess the impact of the availability of acute beds in the MR.Material And MethodsA retrospective observational study of electronic patient records for all adult patients attending PER of the Psychiatric Institute "Dr. José Horwitz B." between 2017 and 2020 was analyzed. Crude and adjusted Incidence Rate Ratios were obtained for the indication of hospitalization, admissions, and those rejected due to lack of acute psychiatric beds.Results90,464 attendances were evaluated on 41,541 patients, and hospitalization was indicated for 12.5% of them. Admissions were carried out in 59.5%, and 35.9% did not occur due to a lack of acute psychiatric beds. When comparing the adjusted Incidence Rates, only a higher hospitalization rate was observed for users from regions (IRR = 1,267; 95% CI: 1,11-1,44; p-value < 0.001) and during the first half of 2020 (IRR = 1.49; CI95%: 1.35-1.65; p-value < 0.001).ConclusionsThe demand for psychiatric hospitalizations and the low availability of acute psychiatric beds in the MR probably have unsuspected consequences. The solution requires multilevel planning among all the actors involved.

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