Resumen
- Background: Mental disorders prevalence and health resources use has been widely studied. Unplanned readmissions to the hospital for mental illness are generally considered undesirable events as well as generators of higher costs to the health system. the generation of new strategies to avoid them is transcendental and ‘smart health’ promises to be an adequate response to this new reality. Objective: to determine if the employment of a digital platform in patients with diagnoses of mental disorder at hospital discharge and during day hospital, reduces hospital readmissions compared to those who do not use it. Methods: A blind, controlled experimental study was carried out with a group of 121 adult patients (18 to 65 years) with a diagnosis of mental disorder. 61 patients were given full access to a mobile monitoring platform, and 60 patients received access to a sham application with psychoeducation modules. Hospital readmissions were defined as any unexpected admission (urgent admission) after a previous discharge from the same hospital, and classified as before 8 days and 30 days after previous discharge. Results: This analysis included patients with a diagnosis of Anxiety, Depression or Bipolar Disorder in whom a follow-up was carried out for a period of six months and the relationship in the reduction of readmissions in patients using the mobile application was analyzed in a comparative way. Conclusion: Digital technology is a tool that allows to enhance the monitoring of patients with mental disorders in real time and to transfer health information to be assessed in a timely manner. This study was supported by the Clinic Nuestra Señora de la Paz.