Acute psychiatric care: Initial findings from a post-emergency department unit

Abstract

To permit swift care of psychiatric and suicidal crisis, a post-emergency department unit (named UPSAM) opened on 25th March 2024 at the Angers University hospital. This unit permits a brief stay in a secure environment during which psychiatric care allows a decrease in suicidal ideation and etiological diagnosis followed by a multimodal suicide prevention strategy and ambulatory care organization. For 6 months 348 patients were hospitalized from all 3 corresponding departments. The mean length of stay was 5.6 days resulting in mean bed occupancy of 87.4% discharge; only 37.9% of patients needed public psychiatric care. UPSAM permitted a decrease in waiting time before hospitalization, with a mean delay before hospitalization of 59.4hours in April and 27.4hours in September. Other models of short-stay unit have been tested and showed efficacy in decreasing emergency department waiting time. Further work is needed to better understand appropriate care regimens according to clinical and topographical situations.

Keywords: Care organization; Organisation des soins; Post-urgence; Post-urgency; Prévention du suicide; Psychiatry; Suicide prevention.