Discharge Against Medical Advice (DAMA) Forms - A Damaging Document

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 377-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Stanton ◽  
Robin Powell
Keyword(s):  
Medical Advice ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice

scholarly journals Why Do Patients Leave against Medical Advice? Reasons, Consequences, Prevention, and Interventions

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Asseel Albayati ◽  
Steven Douedi ◽  
Abbas Alshami ◽  
Mohammad A. Hossain ◽  
Shuvendu Sen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Medical Advice ◽  
Preventive Strategies ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Cause Analysis ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice ◽  
Leaving Against Medical Advice

Background: A patient decides to leave the hospital against medical advice. Is this an erratic eccentric behavior of the patient, or a gap in the quality of care provided by the hospital? With a significant and increasing prevalence of up to 1–2% of all hospital admissions, leaving against medical advice affects both the patient and the healthcare provider. We hereby explore this persistent problem in the healthcare system. We searched Medline and PubMed within the last 10 years, using the keywords “discharge against medical advice,” “DAMA,” “leave against medical advice,” and “AMA.” We retrospectively reviewed 49 articles in our project. Ishikawa fishbone root cause analysis (RCA) was employed to explore reasons for leaving against medical advice (AMA). This report presents the results of the RCA and highlights the consequences of discharge against medical advice (DAMA). In addition, the article explores preventive strategies, as well as interventions to ameliorate leaving AMA.

scholarly journals A nationally representative study on discharge against medical advice among those living with epilepsy

Seizure ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 84-90
Author(s):  
Parul Agarwal ◽  
Huaqing Xi ◽  
Nathalie Jette ◽  
Jung-yi Lin ◽  
Churl-Su Kwon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Advice ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Representative Study ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice ◽  
Nationally Representative

scholarly journals Informal psychiatric patients requesting discharge

1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-211
Author(s):  
Robin McGilp ◽  
Brian Kidd ◽  
Cameron Stark ◽  
Tom Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Medical Advice ◽  
Psychotic Illness ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice ◽  
Retrospective Investigation

A retrospective investigation of case-notes compared 54 incidents of informal psychiatric in-patients being detained in hospital on an emergency basis with 66 incidents of discharge against medical advice (AMA). The characteristics of the two groups were compared. Detained patients were more likely to have been detained previously, to be suffering from a psychotic illness, and to have threats of violence or self-harm mentioned in their case-notes. AMA patients were more likely to have a history of substance abuse but were no more likely than the detained group to have been discharged AMA in the past. The results suggest that psychiatrists in this hospital are using current legislation on detention appropriately.

Discharge against medical advice at a general hospital in Catalonia

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosó Duñó ◽  
Esther Pousa ◽  
Jordi Sans ◽  
Carles Tolosa ◽  
Ada Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
General Hospital ◽  
Medical Advice ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice

scholarly journals Rate and causes of discharge against medical advice from a university hospital emergency department in Iran: an ethical perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaz Rouhbakhsh Halvaei ◽  
Hojat Sheikh Motahar Vahedi ◽  
Ayat Ahmadi ◽  
Maryam Sadat Mousavi ◽  
Alireza Parsapoor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Medical Advice ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
P Value ◽  
Emergency Ward ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice ◽  
Clinical Records

Discharge against medical advice (DAMA) is a common problem in the health-care system. It imposes risks to both patients and medical staff and could be the subject of ethical deliberation. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 on 400 patients who were discharged against medical advice from the emergency ward of Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Patients’ information was collected using clinical records and telephone calls. The collected data were analyzed using STATA software. DAMA rate was 12% in the emergency department of Shariati Hospital. Male gender was found to be a risk factor for DAMA (OR: 1.90; CI (95%): 1.44 - 2.52; P < 0.0001). In addition, younger patients were more likely to leave hospital against medical advice (p-value: 0.04). The more common reasons for DAMA were feeling better, long delay in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and the hectic ambience of the emergency ward. Patients’ self-discharge is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that is affected by patients’ characteristics, medical conditions and hospital circumstances. It raises some ethical concerns, mainly due to a conflict between patients’ autonomy and beneficence. It is helpful for the medical staff to create an effective relationship with patients who are at higher risk of DAMA, in order to increase their compliance and prevent the consequences of leaving hospital against medical advice.

Discharge against Medical Advice in Some Paediatric Wards

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
H S Goyea
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Care ◽  
Preventive Health Care ◽  
Medical Advice ◽  
Preventive Health ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University ◽  
Family Opposition

Sixty-four cases of discharge against medical advice (DAMA) from 3 paediatric units in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital within a period of 18 months were analysed. The incidence was highest among the very young, even when they were still very ill. Financial problems accounted for 65.6% of the cases. Other reasons included difficulties related to the siblings (9.4%), the wish to try traditional methods (7.8%), family opposition (1.6%) and distance from the hospital (4.1%). It is recommended that greater attention be given to preventive health care, and placing the cost of hospital care within the reach of the poor. Improved communication is also recommended as a way of helping parents seek alternatives to DAMA.

Self-discharge against medical advice from tertiary health institution: A call for concern

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
MorufBabatunde Yusuf ◽  
JohnsonDare Ogunlusi ◽  
SundayOgunsuyi Popoola ◽  
SheriffOlawale Ogunlayi ◽  
WaheedOlaide Babalola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Advice ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Health Institution ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice

scholarly journals Audit of documentation proficiency of emergency department patients who are discharged against medical advice before and after implementation of a checklist

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Sze Joo Juan ◽  
Ghee Hian Lim ◽  
Beng Leong Lim
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Primary Outcome ◽  
Medical Advice ◽  
Against Medical Advice ◽  
Documentation Quality ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Discharge Against Medical Advice ◽  
Emergency Department Patients ◽  
A Prospective Study

Objective: Documentation of the discharge against medical advice (AMA) is poorly performed in the emergency department (ED). Little is known about the impacts of a checklist on this. Our study aimed to compare the quality of AMA documentation before and after implementation of a checklist.Methods: A retrospective review was conducted followed by a prospective study; each over three months of AMA interactions in our ED pre and post implementation of a checklist. An 11-point checklist was used to determine documentation quality during these two periods. Quality was assessed based on the number of points fulfilled on this tool. Documentation was classified as “good” (8-11), “average” (4-7) and “poor” (0-3). The primary outcome measured was the proportions of discharged AMA records that showed “good”, “average” and “poor” documentation. Secondary outcomes were compliance rates to each of the categories of the checklist before and after its use.Results: 339 and 309 complete records were retrieved from the retrospective and prospective arms respectively. The proportions of case records in the three grades before and after use of the checklist respectively were: poor, 199/339 (59%) vs. 7/313 (2%); fair, 133/339 (39%) vs. 66/313 (21%) and good 7/339 (2%) vs. 240/313 (77%); all p-values were statistically significant. There were also statistically significant differences in compliance rates to each of the categories of the checklist pre and post checklist implementation.Conclusions: This study shows improvement in quality and compliance rates in the audit categories after the implementation of an AMA checklist.

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