Due to limited psychiatric hospital availability, increasing numbers of pediatric patients with behavioral health (BH) needs are hospitalized in medical units in the US Patients and staff are at increased risk for safety events like self-harm or aggression. Our study aimed to decrease safety events by 25% over a year among hospitalized children with BH diagnoses by implementing an intervention bundle.
Methods: A multidisciplinary team developed and implemented a BH intervention bundle that included a BH equipment cart, an electronic medical record tool for BH patient identification/stratification, a de-escalation team, daily operational BH phone call, and staff training with a safety checklist. The primary outcome measure was the number of reported safety events in BH patients. Process measure was "medically avoidable days", wherein a medically cleared patient remained hospitalized awaiting transfer to inpatient psychiatric units; balance measure was staff perception of the workflow.
Results: Although not statistically significant, we noted a downward trend in safety events per 1,000 patient days from 0.47 preintervention to 0.34 postintervention (28% decrease). Special cause variation was not achieved for BH safety events or medically avoidable days. Although one-third of staff members felt the BH bundle was helpful, many reported it as impeding workflow and expressed ongoing discomfort caring for BH patients.
Conclusions: The implementation of a BH intervention bundle requires significant institutional support and interdisciplinary coordination. Despite additional training, equipment, and staff support, we did not achieve measurable improvements in patient safety and care coordination. Additional studies to measure impact and improve care for this population are needed.
Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.