Promoting Time-Efficient Care for Suicidal Patients in the Emergency Department

Abstract

Patients who present to an emergency department are in a vulnerable state of mind. The population in the emergency department is continuously growing. Acute stages of mental health problems can bring patients to the emergency department for care. Psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, living alone, depression, hopelessness, previous suicide attempts, self-devaluation, agitation, and insomnia are some risk factors that predispose individuals to suicide. Suicidal patients' care in the emergency department can be challenging for healthcare professionals due to the complex environment and numerous other emergencies occurring altogether. Suicidal patients do not get the timely medical attention they need from clinicians. As a result, there are little information and few protocols in emergency departments about the correlation of the timely care and how it can affect the patients during the emergency department visit.