Psychiatric Patients in the Emergency Department

The therapeutic management of psychiatric patients in the Emergency Department is a complex and difficult issue. Often psychiatric patients receive a less attention to their clinical condition due to a number of factors. Some facilities have on-site psychiatric-mental health services, and others do not. The following resources are provided in order to assist emergency departments to improve clinical service to psychiatric patients that present in the emergency departments.

The bibliography encompasses the following topics: management of suicidal adolescents in the Emergency Department, decision for placement of psychiatric patients following admission to the ED, all aspects of care related children and youth with emergent mental health needs, psychiatric patients with co-morbid substance abuse disorders, the use of Emergency Department services for psychiatric patients without primary care, and the resources needed to care for elderly patients with alcohol-related admissions.

Resource

Special thanks to Colleen McClintick and Lori Selfridge for the research and primary development of this web content. This project was undertaken as part of a fellowship arrangement between ENA and Widener University-School of Nursing, Chester, Pennsylvania.