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Friday, November 11, 2016

Psychiatric patients wait the longest in emergency rooms

By Amy Ellis Nutt
The Washington Post
Originally published October 18, 2016

Here is an excerpt:

Many studies over the past decade have shown that ER overcrowding results in higher mortality rates of ER patients, higher costs and higher stress levels for medical professionals.

That overcrowding won’t end anytime soon, Parker said, unless access to outpatient treatment centers expands. But in the latest survey, more than half of the ER physicians said mental health resources in their communities had declined in the past year.

The paradox at the heart of the problem is almost beyond comprehension, in Lippert’s view.

“Nowhere else in medicine,” she said, “do we have our most severely ill patients staying the longest.”

The article is here.