Meeting abstract

https://doi.org/10.24869/spsih.2026.168

The Ward as a Seismograph: A Decade of Psychiatric Admissions to an Acute Male Ward

Mirela Ćelić Ružić ; University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan, Jankomir 11, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Crkvena 21, 31000 Osijek, Croatia *
Darjan Svetinović ; University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan, Jankomir 11, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Vladimir Grošić ; University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan, Jankomir 11, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Crkvena 21, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Marijana Knezović Florijan ; University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan, Jankomir 11, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Igor Filipčić ; University Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan, Jankomir 11, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Crkvena 21, 31000 Osijek, Croatia; University of Applied Health Sciences, Mlinarska cesta 38, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

Objectives: This study presents ten years of experience
from an acute male ward through trends in
admissions, diagnostic profile, and rehospitalizations,
and shows how changes in the structure of
patients can be read as a reflection of broader social
and epidemiological developments. Materials
and methods: Admissions to the integrative male
acute ward at the “Sveti Ivan” Psychiatric Hospital
in Zagreb (2015–2026) were analyzed retrospectively.
For full calendar years, an estimated
number of unique admissions was used, while for
the more recent period, a more detailed sample
was analyzed in which rehospitalizations were
distinguished. Diagnoses were coded according
to ICD-10. Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics, analysis of frequencies and proportions,
trend monitoring by year, and time-to-readmission
analysis were applied. Results: The number
of admissions remained stable over the entire
decade, but the diagnostic picture changed. Psychoses
continued to account for approximately
half of all admissions, but the focus shifted
from classic schizophrenia toward unspecified
and acute psychotic disorders, which increased
sharply. There has also been a growing number
of psychoses related to psychoactive substances
and an increase in dual diagnoses, that is, psychosis
combined with addiction. The data also bear
traces of broader events, such as more admissions
due to stress and post-traumatic reactions during
the pandemic, and a rise in behavioral addictions
in recent years. It was also shown that a smaller
group of patients accounts for a large proportion
of all admissions, often with rapid return to the
ward and changing diagnoses. Exact figures are
presented in the talk. Conclusion: Even when capacity
remains the same, who comes in and why
changes over time, so an acute ward functions as
a sensitive seismograph of changes in the community.
Systematic reading of one’s own data
helps in the early recognition of new challenges—
from increasingly unclear psychotic presentations
to behavioral addictions—and in better adapting
care, especially follow-up after discharge, to patients’
real needs.

Keywords

acute psychiatry; psychotic disorders; diagnostic profile; pandemic

Hrčak ID:

352283

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/352283

Publication date:

15.6.2026.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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