6.3 THE EMERGENCY PSYCHIATRIST IS IN YOUR HOME

Feuer, Vera

Objectives: The objectives of this presentation are to review the challenges and benefits of utilizing telepsychiatry in emergency settings and to describe adaptations needed to safely provide emergency and crisis psychiatry services to patients in their homes as well as digital tools to help support families during the pandemic and beyond. Methods: The Northwell Emergency Telepsychiatry Service was established in 2012 with the primary goal of providing timely access to psychiatry consultation 24/7 across 19 emergency departments within our health system. The Behavioral Health Urgent Care opened in 2017 to help provide access to a child and adolescent psychiatrist in an ambulatory environment to allow families to avoid the emergency department. The stay-at-home orders and the relaxation of regulations resulting from the public health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic required rapid adaptations to our workflows on both of these services, which allowed our teams to continue to provide emergent/urgent consultations to families presenting to the hospital as well as caring for them in their homes whenever possible. Results: Our home-based team completed 381 emergency psychiatry evaluations with patients in the emergency department and 461 crisis consultations to patient’s homes during the initial stay-at-home orders from March to August 2020. Chart reviews and provider satisfaction surveys were completed and showed that consultations were safe (no adverse events), received in a timely manner, and accepted by families and providers alike. Providers felt that the safety protocols were established, and that utilization of telepresenters, digital patient intake forms, and safety planning tools were all helpful in guiding and streamlining care. Conclusions: Telepsychiatry can be safely utilized to provide crisis care to patients in their homes. With rising mental health needs and a continued workforce shortage, telepsychiatry can help provide an accepted and safe alternative for families seeking emergency care during and beyond the pandemic. ADMIN, TVM, RF