Volume XV, Issue 1, February 2014
Scott Zeller, MD et al.
This study sought to assess the effects of a regional dedicated emergency psychiatric facility design known at the “Alameda Model” on boarding times and hospitalization rates for psychiatric patients in area EDs.
This study sought to assess the effects of a regional dedicated emergency psychiatric facility design known at the “Alameda Model” on boarding times and hospitalization rates for psychiatric patients in area EDs.
Volume XV, Issue 1, February 2014
Aimee Moulin, MD, et al.
In 2009 Alameda placed 11.0 involuntary holds per 1,000 population, while the next highest county in California only placed 6.4 per 1,000 population.5 This may suggest instead that some of Alameda’s mental health patients would not have been placed on an involuntary hold in other California counties in the first place, increasing the proportion of lower acuity psychiatric emergencies and thus accounting for the high discharge rate.
It is difficult to fully assess an agitated patient, and the complete psychiatric evaluation usually cannot be completed until the patient is calm enough to participate in a psychiatric interview. Nonetheless, emergency clinicians must perform an initial mental status screening to begin this process as soon as the agitated patient presents to an emergency setting.
