The current state of mental health services in Canada's paediatric emergency departments
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Stephanie L Leon1, Mario Cappelli1, Samina Ali2
1Department of Psychology, University of Ottawa & Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario;
Objective:
To describe emergency mental health services in major paediatric centres across Canada.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study of mental health services in emergency departments (EDs) from all 15 Canadian tertiary care paediatric centres was conducted.
Results:
Fifteen individuals participated and were either a paediatric emergency physician with administrative responsibilities (60%) or an emergency mental health care provider (40%). Four participants reported that their ED used an evidence-based guideline, tool or policy, and one participant reported their ED based its services on published research evidence. Reported ED-based mental health resources included a crisis intervention team (five EDs), a mental health nurse (six EDs) and a social worker (five EDs). Thirteen participants reported on-site consultation with child psychiatry and six reported urgent follow-up as an adjunct service to ED care.
Conclusions:
There is a wide variety of mental health care practices in Canadian paediatric EDs. Consideration of which resources are required to ensure evidence-based, effective services are provided to children and youth is necessary.
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