Fellows mentioned in this story: Sondra Leiggi Brandon, Cohort VII

From Medpage Today:

A hospital in Hawai‘i managed to dramatically reduce psychiatric admissions by taking over management of a statewide system wherein police officers must consult a professional mental health emergency worker prior to bringing people in for involuntary evaluations, psychiatric nurses told colleagues here.

In many cases, the individuals are diverted to community resources instead of the emergency department (ED).

The number of mental health visits to the Queen's Medical Center ED in Honolulu fell from nearly 1,800 per fiscal year from 2017-2019 to about 1,450 in 2020 and about 1,200 in 2021 after the program was instituted. This decline occurred even as mental health calls remained fairly steady, the nurses reported at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association.

Continue reading at medpagetoday.com and psychiatrictimes.com.