TY - JOUR
PY - 2024//
TI - Impact of emergency department safety planning on 30-day mental health service use
JO - Psychiatric services
A1 - Cullen, Sara Wiesel
A1 - Olfson, Mark
A1 - Xie, Ming
A1 - Marcus, Steven C.
SP - ePub
EP - ePub
VL - ePub
IS - ePub
N2 - OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association between emergency department (ED) safety planning and subsequent use of mental health care among individuals treated in the ED for suicidal behavior and to determine whether subsequent use differed by patients' receipt of recent mental health care.
METHODS: Data from 130 hospitals, derived from a 2017-2018 national hospital survey, were paired with national health insurance data from 2,328 patients with suicidal behavior treated in the EDs of these hospitals. Rates of ED readmission, inpatient admission, and outpatient mental health follow-up care in the 30 days after discharge from the index ED visit were examined.
RESULTS: During the 30 days after discharge from the index visit, readmissions to the ED (18% vs. 22%) and inpatient admissions (12% vs. 15%) for suicidal behavior or other mental health issues were significantly lower among patients treated in the EDs that routinely implemented safety planning, compared with those that did not, respectively. Among patients who had not received mental health care within 30 days before the index visit, those treated in an ED implementing routine safety planning were about half as likely (adjusted risk ratio=0.60) as those treated in an ED without such planning to have an ED readmission.
CONCLUSIONS: Safety planning was associated with fewer subsequent ED and inpatient admissions among patients treated in the ED for suicidal behavior. The authors recommend that safety planning be universally implemented in EDs and included in routine outpatient care.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1075-2730 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20230187 ID - ref1 ER -