Hospitalization is a major therapeutic tool for management of psychiatric emergencies. However, the doctor does not have a specific consensus outlining the most important variables in order to sit this decision.

Our purpose was to identify the factors affecting the decision of hospitalization in a psychiatric service via emergencies.

It is a cross-sectional study conducted in the medical emergency department of university hospital in Mahdia during twelve months. The Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) was used to specify the degree of emergency.

Among the 513 patients referred to the emergency room, 201 were hospitalized with a prevalence of 39,5%. The most represented age group was between 25 and 34 years old in 35,3% of cases and the sexe ratio (M/F) was 2,65. The factors having an impact on the decision of hospitalization were: male gender, single status, low socioeconomic level, absence of professional activity, presence of family or personal psychiatric history, previous hospitalizations in psychiatric department, precipitating event, heteroagressivity and restlessness as reasons of consultation, demand for care from third parties and level 2 in CTAS reflecting a true emergency.

The identification of these factors contributes to make an objective decision regarding the psychiatric hospitalization.