Persisting shortfall in emergency services for psychiatric patients : study

Persisting shortfall in emergency services for psychiatric patients : study
A new study found that people who visit emergency rooms for mental health care were transferred to another facility at six times the rate of people, who visit ERs other conditions.

During the period studied, the annual number of visits to ERs by adults in the US rose by 30 percent (from 82.2 million to 106.8 million) but psychiatric visits increased even more dramatically, by about 55 percent (from 4.4 million to 6.8 million). Alcohol-related disorders represented a rising proportion of these visits. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the increasing pressure on ERs, longer median lengths of stay for psychiatric patients generally persisted throughout this period. Only in the case of patients admitted for observation – a category that included just 2 percent of psychiatric visits, and had much more variable figures – did the length-of-stay gap appear to close by 2011. The authors say that on the whole, the findings suggest deficiencies in emergency departments’ capacity for psychiatric care. The largest underlying factor, they say, is a shortage of psychiatric inpatient beds, which stems from the ‘de-institutionalization’ of a large portion of the U.S. psychiatric inpatient population, which began in the late 1960s. (Read: Studies say that young transgender women are at a risk of psychiatric disorders)

Between 1970 and 2006, state and county psychiatric inpatient facilities in the country cut capacity from about 400,000 beds to fewer than 50,000. Many psychiatric patients who would otherwise have been receiving long-term care have thus gone relatively untreated and have frequently ended up at ERs, straining their capacities. Shortages of outpatient mental health facilities and substance abuse treatment programs are also likely factors. ‘There has been progress made recently as the number of hospital-based psychiatric ER units has increased, along with regional psychiatric emergency care facilities that can quickly take in patients who visit local ERs. However, these improvements have yet to offset the overall shortage of psychiatric inpatient resources,’ Zhu said. The study was published in Health Affairs . (Read: Studies say that young transgender women are at a risk of psychiatric disorders)

Source: ANI

Photo source: ANI

Disclaimer: TheHealthSite.com does not guarantee any specific results as a result of the procedures mentioned here and the results may vary from person to person. The topics in these pages including text, graphics, videos and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only and not to be substituted for professional medical advice.