Acute Inpatient Care

Acute inpatient hospitalization occurs only with a physician's order for conditions that cannot be safely or effectively treated on an outpatient basis. It is the most intensive level of care offered and provides 24-hour skilled nursing observation and care, daily interventions and oversight by a psychiatrist, and intensive, highly coordinated treatment by a physician-led team of mental health professionals. Inpatient hospitalization is always short-term and designed to quickly stabilize the most serious symptoms to allow a quick transition to less-intensive levels of care. Montevista Hospital offers acute inpatient care for adults, adolescents (ages 13 to 18), and to children ages 4 to 12. Dual Diagnosis programs are available for adults and adolescents with a secondary chemical dependency diagnosis.

Advantages of Acute Inpatient:

• Safe, controlled, structured environment
• 24 hour skilled nursing care
• Intensive physician involvement.
• Physician-led multi-disciplinary treatment team.
• Able to utilize both medication and psychotherapy, as appropriate.
• Intensive treatment not available on an outpatient basis.
• Tutorial-based school program available
• Up to 10 hours of daily programming.
• 7 day a week programming.

Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP)

Partial Hospitalization is an on-campus day program that offers the intensity of acute inpatient care without having to stay overnight in the hospital. It is offered separately to children ages 5 to 12 and adolescents, ages 12 to 17 from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Montevista provides transportation to and from home, serves breakfast and lunch, two snacks and provides on-site classroom instruction to the school age children.

Advantages of PHP:

• Patient continues to live at home, but comes to hospital for care.
• Children and adolescents continue to attend regular school classes at the hospital campus and receive credit through the Homebound program of the Clark County School District. No one at the child's former school needs to know why the child is not attending, or what the nature of the child's alternative education is.
• Weekly psychiatric oversight and supervision
• Skilled nursing interventions
• Multi-disciplinary treatment team
• Stabilization of condition that would otherwise result in hospitalization.
• Tutorial school classes (for children and adolescents) may be offered
• Hospital stays may be shortened by "step-down" to PHP
• Less-intensive, less-expensive alternative to hospitalization.
• Specialty programs available
• Patients with dual diagnosis can participate in both tracks of PHP programs

Intensive Outpatient Program

IOP is more intensive than traditional outpatient and is designed to achieve short-term stabilization and resolution of immediate problem areas. The patient and family are offered services by a team of professionals. The patient is enrolled in a time-limited program with other patients working on similar issues. The treatment team may include licensed therapists, nurses, program specialists and a doctor.

Montevista Hospital offers child and adolescent psychiatric intensive outpatient program. It's a four-hour on-campus program that is recommended as a step down from partial hospitalization or as a direct admission. As with partial hospitalization, Montevista provides transportation to and from home and serves meals or snacks dependent on time of day the patient is on campus.

The length of each child's treatment is determined by his/her psychiatrist's evaluation of the child's progress; however, the average length of stay is three to six weeks for a child and two to three weeks for an adolescent.

What kind of treatment will my child get?

Children and adolescents will (separately by age) attend group therapy five days per week and will be seen individually by their doctor at least once a week. They set daily goals every morning, and then attend an on-campus school for three hours. After lunch they attend daily progress group sessions led by a mental health professionals, where they identify the feelings they are experiencing, their causes and effects. This includes focus groups facilitated by trained mental health technicians where the participants learn and work on coping skills such as anger management, communication and relationship skills. Adjunctive therapies such as art and physical education are offered for an hour and a half during the day. Nurses administer medications as prescribed; and children may see a nurse at any time for any issue.

Advantages of IOP:

• Individual lives at home
• Sessions may be conducted while the individual continues to go to work or school.
• Individual therapy is augmented by group therapies specific to the patient's needs.
• Multiple professional disciplines work with the patient and family.
• Frequency of attendance is determined by the individual's specific needs.
• Specialty programs available