Mental Health Services Availability and the Admission of the Seriously Mentally Ill from the Emergency Department

Authors

Charles B. Moseley, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Jay J. Shen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Christopher R. Cochran, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 2008

Publication Title

Journal of Health and Human Services Administration

Volume

31

Issue

3

First page number:

292

Last page number:

308

Abstract

This study used a cross-sectional, multiple logistic regression design to examine the relationship between mental health service availability and the admission of 111,527 seriously mentally ill (SMI) patients from the emergency department (ED) in New York State in 2002. The study found that SMI patients were admitted from the ED in counties that were mental health professional shortage areas and in counties with less long-term inpatient psychiatric days. Contrary to expectations, counties with community mental health centers (CMHCs) had more admissions than counties without CMHCs. The results support prior research that indicates the need for more specialized mental health services for the SMI, including more psychiatric beds.

Keywords

Health services accessibility; Hospitals – Emergency services; Mental health services; Psychiatric emergencies

Disciplines

Mental and Social Health

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Moseley, C. B., Shen, J. J., Cochran, C. R. (2008). Mental Health Services Availability and the Admission of the Seriously Mentally Ill from the Emergency Department. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 31(3), 292-308.