Emergency Department Presentations for Mental Health Crisis: Comparing ED-Only Care With Transfer to a Crisis Stabilisation Unit.
Carly Hudson, Marcus Randall
PMID 41578448WHAT IT FOUND
Adults transferred to a crisis stabilisation unit spent less time in the emergency department before transfer, but they did not return to the emergency department less often than adults who stayed there.
Key findings
01Patients transferred to the crisis stabilisation unit had a shorter median stay in the emergency department than patients who completed treatment in the emergency department.
02Patients transferred to the crisis stabilisation unit did not re-present to the emergency department less often than patients who completed treatment in the emergency department.
03Patients transferred to the crisis stabilisation unit were more likely to have walked in and to be triaged as category four than patients who completed treatment in the emergency department.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study compared only time spent in the emergency department, so it did not measure the total time patients spent in care after transfer to the crisis stabilisation unit. Transfer to the crisis stabilisation unit was not random, so patients who were different from the start may have had different outcomes. The researchers could not access triage notes, clinical assessments or discharge summaries, so they could not adjust for many reasons why a patient was transferred. The findings come from one health service and may not apply elsewhere.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the shorter emergency department stay as evidence that the crisis stabilisation unit reduced total care time or improved outcomes. The study measured only time in the emergency department and did not find a difference in re-presentation.