Background: In-patient treatment of psychiatric patients plays an important role in their management. The number of beds available for patients with mental disorders is limited in Turkey. However, some of these patients do require prolonged stay at the hospital. Hence the psychiatric clinics/units of medical schools are trying to meet this important deficit. The aim of this study was to evaluate socio-demographic characteristics and find out the disease pattern along with therapeutic approaches in all hospitalized patients over the last four years. Method: The information about DSM-IV diagnosis, socio-demographic characteristics, whether they received pharmacotherapy / ECT, duration of stay of all patients who were hospitalized at the Psychiatry Clinic of Medical School of Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) between January 2000 and October 2003 was obtained by retrospectively reviewing the hospital files. All data pertaining to the patients was transferred to a "data collection form" prepared by the investigators. The data were assessed by means of Microsoft Excel software. Results: During the study period a total of 600 patients (294 female (49%), 306 male (51%) were hospitalized to receive therapy. The mean age of the patients was 36.46 +12.75. In terms of marital status, married patients and in terms of occupational distribution, housewives were predominant. The mean duration of stay of the patients at the clinic was 31.9 + 27.3 days. In terms of DSM-IV-R diagnoses of the patients, the most common diagnoses were mood disorder in 198 patients (33%), psychotic disorder in 154 patients (25.6%) and anxiety disorder in 114 patients (19%). Conclusion: In order to assess the functionality of a health institution and the efficiency of the services it offers, the data must be collected, assessed and interpreted consistently, regularly and thoroughly. It not only helps to show the status of healthcare institutions, but will also be beneficial in formulating healthcare policies of a country.
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