People With Mental Illnesses Wait Longer In Emergency Departments As Hospitals Close Psychiatric Units, According To Survey

Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Public Health;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 18 Jun 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Nearly 80% of hospitals say mentally ill patients who need to be hospitalized sometimes must wait four hours or longer to be admitted because of a shortage of psychiatric beds and mental health staff, according to a survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians, USA Today reports. By comparison, 30% of hospitals said patients not seeking mental health services had to wait four hours or more before being admitted.

For the study, ACEP officials surveyed 328 emergency medical directors. The survey also found:

• About 10% of the directors said psychiatric patients wait more than one day on average;
  
  
• 84% of directors said ED wait times would decrease for all patients if their hospitals offered better psychiatric services;
  
  
• Half of the hospitals surveyed had psychiatric units, while the rest transferred patients to other facilities; and
  
  
• 61% of hospitals surveyed do not have psychiatric staff caring for ED patients while they wait, but those patients do receive care for other medical problems.

The number of psychiatric beds in U.S. community hospitals has declined 12% since 2000, compared to a 4% decline in overall hospital beds, according to ACEP.

According to James Bentley of the American Hospital Association, hospitals have begun closing their psychiatric units because of low payments from government programs and health insurers, uncompensated care for uninsured patients and a shortage of psychiatrists willing to work in hospitals. Bruce Schwartz, director of psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center, said, "For individuals in need of admission because they're psychotic or severely depressed, it can be a very uncomfortable, scary, disorienting time" (Appleby, USA Today, 6/17).

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