Riverview Program Review: Executive Summary & Overview

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families Office of the Ombudsman, Office of the Child Advocate, and the Office of the Court Monitor conducted a review of Riverview Hospital, the state-run psychiatric hospital for children between the ages of five and eighteen. The review team met with the Riverview staff and then determined the facility's strengths and weaknesses to assess challenges facing the hospital as it seeks to improve the quality of services.

The researchers determined that the staff has significant situational stress related to lack of supervisory support. Serious clinical and administrative communication gaps existed between management, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and nurses at the facility. The communication gaps have created difficulties in making quality improvements and providing quality care.