Background Recent research has found that visits to the Emergency Department (ED) for mental health and substance use disorders are increasing in British Columbia, Canada (Lavergne et al., 2022). As a result, EDs need to effectively manage and respond to the influx of mental health visits. Proper mental health screening has been identified as a crucial factor in improving patient care for those visiting due to mental health reasons (Vasiliadis et al., 2015). However, a gap in the literature exists for investigating and understanding mental health screening in the Interior region of British Columbia, Canada.
Methods To evaluate descriptive statistics related to suicide screening,a randomized retrospective patient chart audit was conducted. The health authority randomly pulled patient charts identified as mental health and/or problematic substance use from 9 EDs in the Interior of BC, Canada. The audit included patients of any age who visited an ED with a primary concern related to mental health and/or substance use during the six-month study period from January to June of 2023. Study measures included (1) completion rates of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale and (2) patient admission rates.
Results 1505 patient visits were audited, which represents 30% of the total mental health and substance use visits during the study period. Statistical analysis identified that less than 10% of suicidal patients had been administered the suicide screener and that this low rate of screening was not accounted for by the admission rate of patients, which was 45%.
Conclusions Findings underscore a need to improve the consistency of suicide screening for those presenting with mental health crises and move towards standardizing this process.
Learning Objectives To better understand what care looks like for those visiting an ED for mental health reasons.
To highlight current struggles in providing evidence-based care to those visiting the ED for mental health reasons.
To understand how our EDs are ill equipped for the growing number of patients presenting with mental health crises.
