ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the current situation and the limitations of the Mental Health Review Board and to identify the effectiveness of the community linkage for discharged patients. METHODS: The data was collected from the 116 patients who were discharged from August 2005 to July 2007 by the order of the Mental Health Review Board. The survey was conducted by telephone with using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: 51 patients (44.0%) were able to be referred to community mental health services when they discharged. The readmission rate was 50.9% and the mean duration to the first readmission was 51.73 days (S.D.=103.5). The mean duration to the first readmission was significantly longer for the group that was referred to community services and that had a negative correlation with the stability of health security. The outpatient maintenance rate and the current admission status were also significantly different between the group that was referred to community services and the group that was not referred. CONCLUSION: The activities of the mental health review board have definite limitations in Korea such as the high rate of immediate readmissions after the discharge orders. A hospital-community integrated service system could be one possible solution to improve the maintenance of mental health patients in the community and to prevent their readmission.