title: Study suggests more training, support for nurses treating patients with behavioral health concerns. .
abstract: A new study involving nurse-level data suggests nurses feel under-prepared to care for patients who present to the ED with behavioral health (BH) concerns, but it also notes that they would be highly receptive to receiving added training and support in this area. Further, researchers stress the need for specialized protocols to standardize the way BH patients are cared for in the emergency setting. Researchers found that a huge percentage of nurses had received no BH training beyond nursing school, producing a lack of understanding and frustration. Study participants reported that the average length of stay (LODS) for BH patients who present to the ED is 18.5 hours, but researchers found that the presence of a specially trained BH nurse reduced LOS substantially. More than half of study participants (57%) noted their hospitals have no inpatient psychiatric unit, and 51% indicated their hospitals have no dedicated treatment area for BH patients. Just 35% of respondents reported that their EDs had dedicated BH staff to assist with the management and care of BH patients, and 24% said they did not have a standardized protocol for managing this patient population.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D009732:Nursing Care; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*