title: An examination of emergency department pediatric psychiatric services.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the structure, process, and outcomes of emergency department (ED) psychiatric services that are available to children who present with behavioral health problems. The author designed and employed a 33-item survey for data collection. All nonfederal EDs in one southeastern state (N=68) were solicited to participate. Descriptive analyses including ANOVAs, t tests, and chi-squares summarized sample characteristics and group differences by ED pediatric psychiatric service (EDPPS) arrangement. Thirty-four hospitals participated, sharing similar organizational characteristics with nonresponders except that participating hospitals were significantly more likely to have inpatient psychiatric services. The survey successfully captured data confirming that EDs use a range of strategies to manage children with behavioral health problems, raising concerns about the suitability of such service variation. These results highlight the need for further research that examines the association of EDPPS structure and process with patient and organizational outcomes to inform quality improvements in pediatric behavioral healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Adult Health and Nursing Systems, School of Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980567, Richmond, VA 23298-0567, USA. jbrown35@vcu.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer Field
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Schubert
mesh_terms: D001509:Bed Occupancy; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States