Impact of a Rapid-Access Ambulatory Psychiatry Encounter on Subsequent Emergency Department Utilization.
Community Ment Health J
; 57(5): 973-978, 2021 07.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32808081
ABSTRACT
The authors sought to determine whether providing a rapid-access ambulatory psychiatry encounter correlated with emergency department utilization during a 6-month follow-up period. Electronic medical records of patients who accessed ambulatory psychiatric care through an urgent care psychiatry clinic that offers treatment exclusively on a walk-in basis over a 1-year period (N = 157) were reviewed retrospectively to track emergency department encounters with and without a psychiatric chief complaint in the 6 months before and after the initial psychiatry evaluation. Among patients who had not previously received ambulatory psychiatric care (N = 88), emergency department utilization decreased from 0.68 visits per patient to 0.36, and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.0147). No statistically significant differences were found between the average number of emergency department encounters in the 6 months before and after the rapid-access ambulatory psychiatry encounter, regardless of chief complaint, when all patients were included in the analysis. Providing a rapid-access ambulatory psychiatry encounter may reduce subsequent emergency department utilization among patients who have not previously received ambulatory psychiatric care.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Psiquiatria
/
Serviço Hospitalar de Emergência
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article