Research Article
Children’s Mental Health Visits to the Emergency Department: Factors Affecting Wait Times and Length of Stay
Table 1
Visit characteristics (
),
(%).
| | ED type | | | General | 416 (71.7) | | Pediatric | 164 (28.3) | | Mode of arrival | | | Medical transport | 267 (46.0) | | Police | 15 (2.6) | | Walk-in | 268 (46.2) | | Unknown | 30 (5.2) | | Patient accompaniment | | | Alone | 9 (1.6) | | Emergency Medical Services (EMS) worker | 213 (36.7) | | Parent/guardian | 316 (54.4) | | Friend | 11 (1.9) | | Unknown | 31 (5.3) | | Triage level | | | CTAS 1 | 2 (0.3) | | CTAS 2 | 76 (13.1) | | CTAS 3 | 271 (46.7) | | CTAS 4 | 215 (37.1) | | CTAS 5 | 15 (2.6) | | Unknown | 1 (0.2) | | Main ambulatory diagnosis | | | Anxiety or stress-related disorder | 112 (19.3) | | Behavioural or emotional disorder/syndrome | 122 (21.0) | | Intentional self-harm | 62 (10.7) | | Mental and behavioural disorder secondary to substance abuse | 161 (27.8) | | Mood disorder | 100 (17.2) | | Schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder | 23 (4.0) | | Comorbidity | | | None documented | 331 (57.1) | | Mental health consultation | | | No | 399 (68.8) | | Yes | 181 (31.2) | | Number of consultations | | | 0 | 365 (62.9) | | 1 | 206 (35.5) | | 2 | 9 (1.6) | | Number of investigations | | | 0 | 411 (70.9) | | 1 | 40 (6.9) | | 2 | 76 (13.1) | | 3 | 45 (7.8) | | 4 | 8 (1.4) | | Disposition | | | Admitted | 75 (12.9) | | Discharged | 426 (73.4) | | Left without being seen/left against medical advice | 22 (3.8) | | Transferred | 21 (3.6) | | Unknown | 36 (6.2) |
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