The outcomes of psychiatric inpatients by proportion of experienced psychiatrists and nurse staffing in hospital: New findings on improving the quality of mental health care in South Korea

• National health insurance claim data was used in our study.
• Number of experienced psychiatrists was inversely related with 30 days readmission.
• Our results provide the government with a potential solution for readmission.

Readmission rates for mental health care are higher in South Korea than other Organization for Economic Development (OECD) countries. Therefore, it is worthwhile to continue investigating how to reduce readmissions. Taking a novel approach, we determined the relationship between psychiatrist experience and mental health care readmission rates. We used National Health Insurance claim data (N=21,315) from 81 hospitals to analyze readmissions within 30 days of discharge for “mood disorders” or “schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders” during 2010–2013. In this study, multilevel models that included both patient and hospital-level variables were analyzed to examine associations with readmission. Readmissions within 30 days of discharge accounted for 1079 (5.1%) claims. Multilevel analysis demonstrated that the proportion of experienced psychiatrists at a hospital was inversely associated with risk of readmission (OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.74–0.84 per 10% increase in experienced psychiatrists). Readmission rates for psychiatric disorders within 30 days of discharge were lower in hospitals with a higher number of nurses (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.94–0.96 per 10 nurses). In conclusion, health policymakers and hospital managers should make an effort to reduce readmissions for psychiatric disorders and other diseases by considering the role that physician experience plays and nurse staffing.