Day-hospitalization: A New Tool in Treatment of Addicted Patients

Abstract

The setting up of the day-hospital since February 2018 was a bet on the institutional plan because the team dared to begin with already existing means: every professional was committed part time but already working in another unit. The economic viability has been proven; this permitted enrollment of staff and increase of activity. The practice with addicted patients started in 2001 by creation of an Out-Patients Center. Professionals also intervened in other units: Emergency department, General Medicine, Surgery, Obs and Gyne, and Psychiatry. Five beds on an Adult Psychiatry ward were reserved for withdrawal. The care associates individual and group accompaniment. Professionals are trained to look for resources inviting patients to rely on them and developing them. Speech group sessions every week during two hours are one of the pillars of the care. It will be proposed to every participant, at a time, to learn how to listen to what happens in his/her interior life, to listen to other participants and to speak up sharing experience. There is a constant reflection about the efficiency of the tool which is regularly adjusted to patients’ needs: a patient centered approach is practiced. Day-hospitalization as an element in the care of addicted patients permits a more differentiated approach of each individual. It should be reserved to particularly vulnerable patients offering them care according to individual needs.