Improving Outcomes of Patients Being Seen in the Emergency Room for Mental Health Crisis

Mental health is a significant problem, especially in males aged 20 to 50 years old (Omary, 2019). Lack of a primary mental health care provider, lack of proper treatment and follow up appointments for this population, and bottlenecking patients in the emergency room are all factors that contribute to the problem. As a result, these patients experience negative outcomes such as not receiving proper care and/or causing harm to themselves or others. In this doctoral project we will explore the option of patients having better outcomes if seen immediately by a psychiatric health care provider. Having psychiatric healthcare providers in the emergency room is a luxury not many hospitals can afford. Many hospitals do not have either the funding or the staff to support this idea. However, emergency rooms with a dedicated psychiatric health care provider or a mental health care provider on call benefit greatly. This practice can reduce both readmission rates and wait times for their patients. Patients can get much needed help quickly and therefore allow emergency rooms to tend to true emergencies.