Hospital emergency departments are a destination for all types of health issues, from minor injuries and illnesses to emergent medical crises and psychiatric episodes.
Though emergency department teams are trained to provide medical stabilization to all patients, they often lack the specialized resources needed for psychiatric care. Combine that with a lack of mental health resources in many communities, and emergency departments can be forced to “board” psychiatric patients until a mental healthcare provider is available to provide a psychiatric evaluation – and sometimes much longer while waiting for an available inpatient bed or treatment program slot.
Click here for the full article in Becker’s Hospital Review.