Who decides when a patient can leave the hospital?
The decision about when to discharge a patient from a psychiatric unit usually involves a number of factors and a number of people—just like the decision to discharge a patient from a medical unit. The attending psychiatrist in the inpatient unit has the final word, but the decision is usually made in consultation with the rest of the inpatient team and the patient’s outpatient care providers. MIT Medical’s mental health clinicians will be involved in these consultations and can provide important information about the kind of community supports that are available to MIT students. A patient is discharged when the hospital staff believes he or she can live safely in his or her home environment and can receive the treatment that he or she needs. In the case of an MIT student, community factors also play a role; sometimes the impact of the student’s behavior and state of mind on his or her living group has to be considered. Sometimes a student may no longer require a hospital setting to ma
