Emergency Medicine: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2165-7548
ISSN: 2165-7548
Porntip Wachiradiloka, Teera Sirisamutrb and Anurut Somtonc
National Institute for Emergency Medicine, Thailand
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Emerg Med
Emergency responders face an increasing number of calls involving people with behavioral and mental crisis issue. They must be able to recognize signs of mental distress, apply proven techniques for dangerous situations and referrals for them to obtain mental health care. The objectives were to study the situation, characteristics, issues and accessibility to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and appropriate treatment. The sample included 26,511 mental crisis patients accessing EMS from data base of the information technology for emergency medical system during 2014-2016 and stakeholder from four provinces, using focus group and in-depth interview. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The study indicated that the number of patients with mental crisis accessing EMS was increasing for the past 5 years. Most patients were male in working age group from the Northeastern, especially between September and October. During patients with maniacal attacks, assistance will be requested from the police and the emergency medical units. The response depends on the experience and community capability. The emergency responder teams had insufficient knowledge and skills. Emergency rooms in most hospitals lack specific caring unit. Psychiatric hospitals have different criteria for admitting. Most had not fast track system and even refuse admittance. In conclusion, mental crisis patients with EMS were rising. However, accessibility to appropriate service centers was still an issue. Most hospitals lack prioritized access and staffs had insufficient knowledge and skills. Cooperation among the police, emergency medical operation team and the rapid psychiatric emergency team is needed to be reinforced.
Porntip Wachiradilok has completed her Master’s degree in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing from Khon Kaen University, Thailand. She is currently working as a Manager of Research and Academic Development Department, National Institute for Emergency Medicine, Thailand. She has published more than 10 papers in reputed journals.
E-mail: porntip.w@niems.go.th