People with psychiatric illnesses, including children, who are admitted to the hospital from the emergency department (ED) can wait 24 hours or longer for an inpatient bed, principally because of a lack of psychiatric beds. The findings of a survey of ED directors were reported June 18 by the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Of the 328 ED directors who responded to the survey, almost 80 percent said their hospital boards psychiatric patients in the ED. Thirty percent said their hospitals board psychiatric patients between eight and 24 hours, and more than one-quarter said that their hospitals board children with psychiatric illnesses for that long.
The main reasons given for boarding of psychiatric patients in the ED are the lack of in-house inpatient psychiatric beds, and either absence or inability of any facility to accept transfers of these patients. Sixty percent of respondents said their ED does not have a dedicated area for psychiatric patients. Read the report summary.
