The current state of mental health services in Canada's paediatric emergency departments

Abstract

To describe emergency mental health services in major paediatric centres across Canada. A cross-sectional study of mental health services in emergency departments (EDs) from all 15 Canadian tertiary care paediatric centres was conducted. 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. 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.