Perceived Differences in the Management of Mental Health Patients in Remote and Rural Australia and Strategies for Improvement: Findings from a National Qualitative Study of Emergency Clinicians

Table 1

Identifying the mental health learning needs of emergency clinicians: interview schedule.

Domain	Question and prompt
Scope of practice	(1) Can you tell me what your role in managing MH patients in the ED and what services or resources (if any) are in place in the ED to assist you?
	(2a) {ASK ONLY IF RESOURCES ARE PRESENT} How do these ED based resources or services impact on your understanding of MH?
	(2b) {ASK ONLY IF RESOURCES ARE PRESENT} And how do these resources affect the assessment or management of mental health patients?
	(3) What do you think are the barriers to the effective assessment & management of MH patients in the ED?
	(4) What ideas do you have for improving the assessment & management of MH patients in your ED?
	(5) What ideas do you have for improving the management of MH patients in rural EDs that may not have access to ED-based clinicians that specialise in mental health?
Competence	(6a) What knowledge deficits (if any) do you feel that you or other ED clinicians have?
	(6a) Do you think ED clinicians would be interested in learning more about these areas (why/why not)?
	(7) What factors do you think impact on the accuracy of triage for mental health patients?
	(8) What are the barriers to enforcing mental health legislation in the ED?
	(9) Can you tell me about your experiences of mental health training specific to the ED?
Confidence in managing MH patients in the ED	(10) What factors affect your confidence in assessing MH patients?
	(11) In which areas do you feel least confident in treating MH patients?