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Event tree risk assessment- Mental Health Patient in the ED
The TCPSC produced an assessment that determines the risk to hospitals related to patients who present in the Emergency Department and display abnormal behavior that may present a risk to themselves or to others.
Additional detail: In addition to the TCPSC representatives, Benton Franklin Department of Human Services Crisis Response staff and Lourdes Counseling Center staff participated in the risk assessment along with representatives from the Emergency Departments of all four hospitals. The working group developed an event tree including risk assessment for each hospital as well as an aggregated risk assessment for all the hospitals. Many of the event branches lead to outcomes that posed unacceptable risks to both the patient and the hospital. The TCPSC determined that further work was needed to address the risks noted. The Benton Franklin Community Health Alliance took the lead in putting together a community workshop to address the identified risks that were unacceptably high. As a result of that workshop, crisis response, law enforcement and the hospitals developed a better understanding of the roles and legal limitations of each entity when faced with a patient who may have a mental health diagnosis. The TCPSC realized that, unless the hospital was willing to have the patient arrested, they should not rely on police presence to calm agitated patients in the ED. Therefore the TCPSC chose to increase the ability of each hospital to deal with crises in-house. |
