Hospital Discharges of Children against Medical Advice

Abstract

Summary: One hundred and seventy-nine children discharged against medical advice from the Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, over a seven-year period, were reviewed. Sixty-six per cent of the 179 were neonates and 82.1% were infants, Fifty-one (74%) of the 69 fathers whose social classes were computed, belonged to social classes IV and V. The commonest diagnoses were prematurity, neonatal jaundice and tetanus, while the mean length of hospital stay was greatest in premature babies. The mothers were the signatories to the discharges in 62.6% and the fathers in 37.4% of the cases. Sixty-nine per cent of the patients were still very ill at discharge. Long hospital stay, the nature and severity of the illnesses, competing family needs and a number of social problems were the main factors identified as the probable reasons for the discharges against medical advice.