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Check out this new Research Snapshot!

Access to Ambulatory Mental Health Care Prior to a Psychiatric Emergency Department Visit

Here is a sneak peek:

What you need to know?
Access to ambulatory mental health and addictions (MHA) services is challenging. There is a lack of evidence about the extent to which individuals use the Emergency Department (ED) as the first point of access to mental health care, particularly when access to ambulatory services is limited. The researchers found that almost half of the patients seeking care in the ED for mental health illnesses and addictions had not accessed outpatient services in the two years prior to their ED admission. The researchers suggest this could be avoidable if patients had access to outpatient services.

What is this research about?

There is a lack of evidence about the extent to which individuals use the ED as the first point of access. Although the ED is an important access point for individuals experiencing a MHA-related crisis, it is unknown if the majority of adults visit the ED as their first point of contact for mental health care. While the ED is a service site important for individuals in crisis, the poor access to ambulatory MHA-related services means that the ED might be a point of care that is being used instead of ambulatory settings.

The main objective of this study was to describe the extent to which the ED is the first point of contact for mental health among adults and identify key sociodemographic and clinical characteristics/factors associated with the ED being the first point of contact.

Read more…

The research snapshot can be found in English here and French here

Original Post

Emergency Department psychiatric treatment is a vital way, if not the only way for many, to receive the right care in time. Waiting in ED takes a long wait, often whole overnight for some. Patients in crisis described it as dreadful and not by choice. With a long waiting list, ambulatory psychiatric care is not accessible.

Improving ambulatory care alone will not catch up with the need when we systemically churn out mentally injured. Psychiatrically unsafe environments exist in every industry. Traumatized victims, families, especially children can take many years of treatment to heal.

Health care professionals have led campaigns to quit smoking and against unhealthy lifestyles for physical health; it’s time to campaign for mental (brain) health.

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