July 25th 2025
A Yale study reveals how racial and ethnic factors impact access to opioid use disorder treatment in emergency departments, highlighting barriers and solutions.
Dear Mental Health Innovators: The COVID-19 Honeymoon Is Almost Over
May 19th 2020Society’s psychological reactions to a crisis can be predicted according to disaster response frameworks, which can be used to understand what to build during the evolving COVID-19 crisis, and when those innovations will prove most vital.
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Hospital-Level Psychiatric Emergency Department Models
December 31st 2019As hospital-based psychiatric emergency programs around the country demonstrate the ability to minimize ED boarding, provide cost-savings, and improve patient outcomes and clinician satisfaction, the challenge will be how to keep these models of psychiatric care self-supporting.
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Mini Quiz: Behaviorally Compromised Patients
January 24th 2018In the emergency department, how should patients with behavioral disturbances and especially those with illnesses such as dementia, TBI, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disability be managed? Take the quiz and learn more.
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Medically and Psychiatrically Complicated Patients
May 26th 2017Helping patients who have significant medical illness as well as mental illness is a challenge, especially when the diagnosis is unclear. Hospital psychiatrists play a critical role in the management of these behaviorally compromised patients.
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Suicidal Patients: Defining and Addressing Emergencies
November 22nd 2016Here: a review of issues related to assessment of patients for suicide risk in the ED -- and an overview of emerging approaches and research that one day will lead to more reliable assessment and interventions based more on science than on art or luck.
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Mini Quiz: Psychiatric Emergency Assessment of Youths
December 3rd 2015Nearly half of children who present to emergency departments with self-harm receive no mental health assessment. What are the essential elements needed to interview children and adolescents in the context of a psychiatric emergency?
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Working With Law Enforcement to Provide Health Care for the Acute Mentally Ill
November 30th 2015Jails have a much higher percentage of homeless mentally ill than does the general community, and those with psychiatric disorders (eg, schizophrenia) must often fend for themselves. Here are some solutions.
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The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency: A Public Health Challenge
November 30th 2015Currently, 1 in 15 youths undergoing psychiatric evaluation in the emergency department is restrained. This article covers diagnostic and therapeutic interventions that can reduce fear and put the young patient on a path to recovery.
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Interviewing in the Emergency Setting
November 30th 2015Acute intoxication is the most likely culprit for an increased risk of violence or agitation, but personality, psychosis, and cognitive problems can all play a role. A skilled clinician can glean a great deal of information in a short period of time.
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