Directions
For this unit’s discussion, we will explore community mental health. While, the number of psychiatric beds dramatically decreased over the years, the need for behavioral health services has grown as all levels, long and short-term as a results of increased stress and illness in the community (due to economic conditions, frequent natural disasters, and aging Baby Boomers) and increased acuity and complexity of patients.
You are the Administrative Director of Emergency Department in a coastal city in Louisiana. You have noticed an increased number of ED visits by children with depression. After a quick search, you found out that your county in fact has 3 times the national average of childhood depression post-Katrina. In general, behavioral health services delivered through the ED require more than twice the time as the average medical protocol offered in the same setting. The negative impact of behavioral health patient overutilization of ED resulted in longer wait times, increased patient frustration, and diminished capacity of clinical staff. Your further research also showed that there is apparent shortage of mental health professionals in the state, lack of community knowledge of available mental health resources, lack of low-income parents’ access to transportation to mental health resources for depressed children, and lack of healthy afterschool activities for children of working parents.
Initial Post: Prepare recommendations to address the issue of overutilization of the ED by children with depression.
Discuss internal hospital solutions and community collaboration solutions.
Include the discussion of the roles of community mental health services and patient centered medical homes (PCMH) in the treatment and prevention of mental illness.
Consider the use of telemedicine, comprehensive care management, care coordination, health promotion, transitional care, family support, and referral to social support.
There is no minimum or maximum in terms of the word count; however, the response should explicitly address all required components of this discussion assignment. The document should be prepared as a practical business deliverable (single-spaced) and reflect higher-level cognitive processing (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation).
Support the initial posting with at least 3 references of credible or peer-reviewed sources. The in-text citations and the list of references should be consistent with the APA writing style (7th ed.).Overall quality of the writing should be consistent with that expected of a college student and industry professional.
