Abstract
Mental health patients seeking care through emergency departments (ED) create different challenges for nurses than their medical counterparts. Understanding the special needs of psychiatric populations requires nurses to identify recurring characteristics, subgroups, and demographics. Psychiatric patients share similar traits that hinder their access to health care despite the distribution of mental illness across age, race, gender, and ethnic barriers. Similarities among psychiatric patients include impaired thought processes, tendency to withdraw from social interaction, and shame related to the stigma of mental illness. Psychiatric patients using emergency departments for primary care compound their vulnerable status by circumventing patient-provider relationships that develop when establishing routine practice and familiarity with a primary care physician. This article illustrates how nurses in the American health care system, specifically those in emergency specialties, can respond to environmental challenges while caring for mental health patients. Strategic planning allows ED teams to prepare for an influx of mental health patients and maintain safety as they serve this vulnerable population.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
