Results from NAMI's 2014 survey on Emergency Room (ER) visits for families and individuals who had a psychiatric emergency.
“The nurses and doctor I came into contact with were not sympathetic to my mental health crisis and did nothing to ease my anxiety or fears instead threatening me to do as I was told or I would be restrained.” – Emergency Room psychiatric patient.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported that mental health and substance abuse cases accounted for 1 in 8 Emergency Room (ER) visits in the United States in 2010. However, ER nurses and doctors have less training in psychiatric emergencies than they do in broken legs and chest pain. In the ER an individual in distress often experiences a long wait time without mental health treatment. One person said, "[sitting in] the waiting area when you are in crisis is the most difficult part. Until you are taken back to a room, it can be very difficult to cope with all of the things happening [around you].”
[For more of this story go to http://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI...n-the-Emergency-Room]
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