This paper describes a combined inpatient and partial hospital program,
with a ten-bed short-term inpatient unit and a partial hospital program
that can accommodate 24 patients. Inpatients and partial hospital patients
are treated together by the same staff in a program located in the partial
hospital. The authors highlight features of the program that address the
five elements of continuity: place, personnel, program, patient-peers, and
plan for treatment. The discussion focuses on the importance of continuity
in sustaining a combined unit; potential benefits for patients, families,
staff, and trainees; attractiveness to third-party payers; and impediments
to fully realizing the potential of the unit.
Abstract Teaser