OBJECTIVE: This paper describes patient and treatment characteristics of pediatric mental health Emergency Department (ED) visits associated with alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. METHOD: A medical record and administrative database review was conducted. Proportional allocation random stratified sampling identified a representative sample of pediatric (≤18 years) mental health presentations to two tertiary care EDs between April 2004 and March 2006. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data from 161 patients with associated AOD use. RESULTS: More females (56.5%) and youth aged 15 to 18 years (70.8%) attended the ED for mental health complaints associated with AOD use. Alcohol (48.4%) and over-the-counter or prescription medications (25.5%) were the most commonly used substances. Twenty-four percent of patients had a documented psychiatric history. The most common psychiatric assessments provided were for suicidality (31.1%) and mood (18.0%). Brief counselling was provided in 31.7% of visits. Consultation with psychiatry occurred less than 20% of the time. Most patients were discharged from the ED (65.2%). Sixty-eight percent of patient records did not have documented discharge planning. CONCLUSIONS: When youth present to the ED for mental health concerns related to AOD use, mental health assessments and follow-up care are not occurring in all cases and reasons for this oversight need to be explored.
OBJECTIVE: This paper describes patient and treatment characteristics of pediatric mental health Emergency Department (ED) visits associated with alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. METHOD: A medical record and administrative database review was conducted. Proportional allocation random stratified sampling identified a representative sample of pediatric (≤18 years) mental health presentations to two tertiary care EDs between April 2004 and March 2006. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data from 161 patients with associated AOD use. RESULTS: More females (56.5%) and youth aged 15 to 18 years (70.8%) attended the ED for mental health complaints associated with AOD use. Alcohol (48.4%) and over-the-counter or prescription medications (25.5%) were the most commonly used substances. Twenty-four percent of patients had a documented psychiatric history. The most common psychiatric assessments provided were for suicidality (31.1%) and mood (18.0%). Brief counselling was provided in 31.7% of visits. Consultation with psychiatry occurred less than 20% of the time. Most patients were discharged from the ED (65.2%). Sixty-eight percent of patient records did not have documented discharge planning. CONCLUSIONS: When youth present to the ED for mental health concerns related to AOD use, mental health assessments and follow-up care are not occurring in all cases and reasons for this oversight need to be explored.
Entities:
Keywords:
alcohol and other drug use; emergency care; pediatrics
Authors: Anthony Spirito; Peter M Monti; Nancy P Barnett; Suzanne M Colby; Holly Sindelar; Damaris J Rohsenow; William Lewander; Mark Myers Journal: J Pediatr Date: 2004-09 Impact factor: 4.406
Authors: Jahan Fahimi; Adrian Aurrecoechea; Erik Anderson; Andrew Herring; Harrison Alter Journal: Pediatr Emerg Care Date: 2015-05 Impact factor: 1.454