One in Ten Children Coming to the ER in Need of a Psych Bed Wait There for Days
A new study reveals that more than 10% of children in psychiatric emergencies are “boarding” in emergency rooms for days, waiting for an inpatient bed.
Across the country, children in mental health crises are arriving at emergency departments only to be left waiting – sometimes for days – because hospitals don’t have capacity for them.
A new study published in JAMA Health Forum found that more than one in ten ER visits by Medicaid-enrolled children for psychiatric emergencies result in “boarding” (being held in the ER while awaiting an inpatient bed) for three to seven days. In some states, including North Carolina, Florida, and Maine, the proportion was as much as 25% of such visits.
Part of the problem that more and more children are experiencing severe depression or suicidal thoughts. But there is a parallel systemic issue: a severe shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds and outpatient services for young people.
“It’s a really challenging, heartbreaking situation for families”
— John McConnell, director of the Center for Health Systems Effectiveness at Oregon Health and Science University
“As the children’s behavioral health crisis nationwide has increased, states have not been able to keep up with behavioral health systems,” Rebecca Marshall, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who wasn’t involved in the study, told NPR. “We really have struggled to build capacity over time to increase the number of inpatient beds,” Marshall continued. “And so often what happens is kids will come into the hospital, they need an inpatient psychiatric bed and there isn’t one available. So then they wait until a child in one of the psychiatric units discharges and a bed becomes available.”
Families often turn to ERs because, without other robust services, it’s their only option. Yet, as Marshall notes, they often can’t find care there, either, or at least “nothing immediate.” While waiting, children are often stuck in the ER, languishing in small, sometimes windowless rooms. The solution to the problem is more capacity, which cuts to Medicaid may further complicate. “It’s a really challenging, heartbreaking situation for families,” John McConnell says.
The name “MindSite News” is used with the express permission of Mindsight Institute, an educational organization offering online learning and in-person workshops in the field of mental health and wellbeing. MindSite News and Mindsight Institute are separate, unaffiliated entities that are aligned in making science accessible and promoting mental health globally.
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