Goal-directed treatment planning and the principles of brief hospitalization.

Contemporary economic pressures to shorten hospitalization have produced serious confusion in child psychiatry, for no adequate rationale has been proposed to replace that appropriate to long-term inpatient care. In order to address this serious deficiency, the principle of hospital stabilization is introduced and discussed, along with the concept of goal-directed planning. The steps of goal-directed planning are presented. It is contended that the educational, communicative, medicolegal, and research advantages of goal-directed planning outweigh its disadvantages and that goal-direction should replace intuitive therapy-oriented planning and problem-orientation.