Overwhelming mental health visits are not for us, docs say

health care

by Mark Laranilla

Aug 18, 2023 | 6:39 PM

Doctors say the mental health crisis affecting America’s children and teens is overwhelming hospital emergency rooms.

Parents bring their 5- and 6-year-olds with psychiatric emergencies, such as anxiety, depression and suicide attempts, and find that paramedics are often unhelpful.

“This crisis is only going to get worse,” says Dr. Willow Jenkins, psychiatrist and medical director at Luddy Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California. told NBC News. “It’s not getting better.”

Jenkins said the number of children seeking emergency psychiatric care at her hospital has soared from about 30 a month in the past to 30 a day in recent months.

Children as young as 6 years old come to the ER talking about suicide.

In response, three of the country’s largest medical organizations—the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Emergency Physicians, and the Association of Emergency Nurses—are now petitioning government officials to increase access to mental health services.

“That’s not us ER doctors. We’re not mental health professionals. We can’t provide definitive treatment,” said Ronald Reagan, UCLA Medical Center Pediatric Emergency Medicine Director Morsen Saidinejad. says Dr. told HealthDay.

Emergency department visits to children’s hospitals for mental health problems jumped 120% between 2007 and 2016, according to a health agency report. General hospitals, on the other hand, increased by 55% over the same period.

And these data do not include the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has highlighted the inadequacy of America’s mental health system for children,” said Dr. Jennifer Hoffman, a pediatric emergency physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. told Axios.

Emergency departments are equipped to handle cases such as car accident victims, broken limbs, gunshot wounds, and other traumatic injuries. Most people are unable to cope with problems that require long-term treatment and follow-up, such as mental health crises.

But in most cases, the lack of mental health support leaves families with nowhere to turn but the local emergency room.

“The ER has become the de facto referral center for all these issues, too many for the emergency department to manage,” added Saidinejad, lead author of the report. Published in Pediatrics This Week.

“You can test, you can identify people who are at risk, but that’s about it, so the ER really isn’t the best place to manage these cases,” Saidinejad said. Told. “And I think we’re getting there because there’s nowhere else to send these kids.”

In fact, the acute shortage of mental health professionals across the country is increasing the crisis for children and adults who desperately need help.

“We have one mental health professional for every 124,000 children, which is simply not enough,” Saidinejad said. “55% of all counties in the United States do not have a single psychiatric professional.”

The authors of the report made several recommendations for how to deal with childhood mental health crises: activation of mental health crisis teams to replace law enforcement; Build a referral network between hospitals and ambulatory care centers. Develop professional standards for adolescent mental health counseling. and increased funding to train a diverse range of child mental health providers.

“We can’t say that everyone needs to go to the ER, so there needs to be options and resources available that people know about,” Saidinejad said.

“We in the ER are basically a safety net. We can’t say no to anything. We have to accept whatever happens. I think we are referring them to the ER,” Saidinejad added.

If you live in New York City and are struggling with suicidal thoughts or experiencing a mental health crisis, call 888-692-9355 for free, confidential crisis counseling. Masu. If you live outside of the five boroughs, dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255 or visit the following link. SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.