2012 Volume 24 Issue 3 Pages 214-221
The need for child and adolescent psychiatry services is gaining recognition in Japan; however, inpatient treatment services of child and adolescent psychiatry are still not sufficient. This paper introduces the clinical practice of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department at Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Medical Centre, which has the largest child and adolescent inpatient treatment services in Japan. Among the 692 inpatient children in 2011, the most common disorders were pervasive developmental disorders (45%: including autism, Asperger's syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified), followed by schizophrenia and adjustment disorder. Average period of hospitalization was greatly reduced to around 90 days in 2011 compared to that of the former child psychiatry metropolitan center before 2009. It is becoming easier for patients to receive early hospitalization and early hospital discharge; on the other hand, it is getting more difficult to treat children who need long-term hospitalization. Clinical training system of the medical center is also reported.
