American emergency room wait times for psychiatric conditions from 2019 to 2021

Abstract

Use of Emergency Departments (EDs) for psychiatric complaints has increased significantly in past decades. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic saw large shifts in ED usage, with a relative increase in mental health complaints in EDs. This paper will investigate the difference in ED wait times for psychiatric and non-psychiatric complaints over this period. Utilized National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), from 2019 to 2021, for average wait times for psychiatric versus non-psychiatric complaints. Compared the average wait times for psychiatric complaints by region, triage status, and ICD-10 F code. There was no significant difference in the average wait times overall between these conditions (P = 0.57). People with schizophrenia or psychosis had a significantly higher wait time (P = 0.03) compared to mental health symptoms secondary to physiologic conditions. Northeastern American EDs also had prolonged wait times for psychiatric conditions (P < 0.01) Research into factors of prolonged wait times can advise quality improvements such as the implementation of evidence-based triage and workup tools, and directed psychiatric education.

Keywords

• Wait times
• emergency department
• emergency psychiatry
• mental health wait times
• mental health access