Associations between multi-disciplinary team meetings and voluntary and involuntary psychiatric readmissions: a multicenter cohort study

Aim This study aimed to clarify the associations of multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings during hospitalization with voluntary and involuntary psychiatric readmission, as well as the associations of patient and community staff participation in these meetings with readmission. Methods We conducted a multicenter cohort study across 21 psychiatric hospitals. Participants were patients admitted to psychiatric emergency or acute care wards and discharged within one year. Data were collected at admission, discharge, and 6 and 12 months after discharge. Exposures were MDT meetings during hospitalization and patient and community staff participation. Outcomes included three aspects of voluntary and involuntary readmission: readmission within 12 months, time to readmission (days), and total days of readmission. Mixed-effects logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards models, and mixed-effects linear regression models were used. Results Of 491 participants, 298 (60.69%) had MDT meetings during hospitalization. Compared with no MDT meetings, MDT meetings were associated with lower odds of voluntary readmission within 12 months (OR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.32–0.92, p = 0.024) and a lower hazard of voluntary readmission (HR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.40–0.94, p = 0.027) but not with involuntary readmissions. No significant associations were observed with total days of readmission. Patient or community staff participation showed no associations with readmission outcome. Conclusion MDT meetings during hospitalization may reduce the voluntary readmission rate and prolong the time to voluntary readmission within one year after discharge. Further research is required to evaluate the quality of meetings and the impact of patient and community staff participation in MDT meetings.