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Is there a real need for a short-stay unit in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Tewfik K. Daradkeh*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, PO Box 17666, United Arab Emirates
Omer E. F. El-Rufaie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, PO Box 17666, United Arab Emirates
Yahia Younis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, PO Box 17666, United Arab Emirates
Rafia Ghubash
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, PO Box 17666, United Arab Emirates
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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This study explores the rationale and need for a short-stay psychiatric unit at Al Ain (United Arab Emirates) district hospital. The paper describes the demographic and diagnostic characteristics of patients with brief admissions over 40% – of all psychiatric admissions – most of whom have neurotic, stress-related and adjustment disorders. Only 12% of patients were severely disabled and in about half the patients, anxiolytic or no medications were prescribed. Significant reduction of distress was achieved by brief admission. In current circumstances, we believe that the short-stay unit might be the best available and least costly option.

Type
Briefings
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

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