What is your organization’s strategy for managing patients with behavioral health needs? Do you react, or do you deploy proactive strategies to keep patients and staff safe?

Findings from the 2018 ECRI Institute PSO Deep Dive™ show that many organizations are reactionary. You can use the Deep Dive to develop an overarching vision and plan for meeting patients’ behavioral health needs throughout the acute care setting.

ECRI Institute PSO analyzed more than 2,300 events on this topic and categorized them as involving one of the following factors:

  • Patient violence against others
  • Emotional or mental health manifestations
  • Inappropriate behaviors
  • Patient self-harm (while a patient in the facility)

ECRI Institute PSO also found that, while many events occurred in the emergency department, more occurred in inpatient, nonpsychiatric units.

Organization responses to events tended to be reactionary; the most common included security/police involvement or restraint use. Only in about 600 events were de-escalation strategies or behavioral emergency response teams (BERTs) used.

Learnings to Apply

The Deep Dive includes in-depth findings, results, tools, case studies, and action recommendations for organizations to adopt and implement. A selection of these action recommendations include the following:

  • Form a strategic team that includes both leaders and direct care staff to evaluate the issue and guide strategy.
  • Evaluate the organization’s current strengths and gaps in meeting the behavioral health needs of acute care patients.
  • Advocate for change at the regional, state, or federal level.

Download the Executive Brief and learn how to access the full ECRI Institute PSO Deep Dive™: Meeting Patients’ Behavioral Health Needs in Acute Care at http://www.ecri.org/behavioralhealth.