The Triage Process for Behavioral Emergencies

AbstractPurpose of ReviewThis review describes methods used by Emergency Departments (EDs) to identify patients with mental health problems. It additionally reviews their ease of use, statistical validity and the effects of their use on the attitudes of patients and ED personnel.Recent FindingsMultiple interventions including additional screening tools, consultation-liaison support, and increased education for triage nurses have been studied. The majority of studies evaluated scales for general mental health concerns, as well as those specifically targeted for suicide, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.SummaryAll the available interventions contributed to improve patient and staff satisfaction. Implementation of universal screening potentially over-identifies risk as many of the screening tools studied show excellent sensitivity, but lower specificity. Anticipating the expansion of hospital- and community-based resources can ease this expansion and might even be facilitated by automatic processes built into electronic screening systems.
Source: Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research