Treatment of Patients with Mental Illnesses in the Emergency Department: A Best Practice Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to develop evidence based recommendations for best practice in nursing care of patients with mental illnesses in the emergency department. It is estimated that one in about every four individuals in the United States has been diagnosed with a mental illness (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2013). Additionally, it is estimated that one in every eight emergency department visits will be related to patients with mental illnesses or substance abuse (Manton, 2013). However, studies suggest that staff members do not feel comfortable caring for patients with mental illnesses and many staff members hold biases against patients with mental illnesses (Manton, 2013). Therefore, this thesis proposes a best practice protocol the better educate staff members on providing appropriate care to patients with mental illnesses in the emergency department. Additionally, this protocol proposes a debriefing program to help staff manage stress if violent events do occur.