Child Mental Health Services in Emergency Department of a University Hospital

Objectives:It is aimed to present pediatric psychiatry consultations requested from children and adolescents applying to the emergency departments of a university hospital and to evaluate the mental health services provided to these children.Materials and Methods:This study was carried out with 127 children and adolescents who applied to Child and Adult Emergency Departments of Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Medicine between 01.12.2017-31.12.2019 and asked for child psychiatry consultation. In addition to the sociodemographic data of the participants, data such as consultation reason, length of stay in the emergency room, psychiatric diagnoses, and treatment recommendations of children were collected. These data were recorded in SPSS 23.0 package program and the required statistics were appliedResults:61.4% of the participants were female (n=78) and 75.6% were between 13-18 years old. 10.6% of the children were not with their caregiver. Children between 0-12 years mostly applied for the drug side effects, and those between 13-18 years applied for suicide attempt. 25.2% of children had repeated emergency applications, and the rate of repeated applications was significantly higher due to somatic symptoms and panic attack. It was found that 10.6% of the children were offered hospitalization and those stayed in the emergency room for significantly longer time, but no one could be refered to a child psychiatry service. There was no child asked for consultation due to child maltreatment. 26% of the children were consulted due to suicide attempt, the rate of the children attempting suicide at least once was found to be significantly higher.Conclusion:It is thought that the results of this study would be beneficial in terms of reflecting the mental health services provided to children brought to the emergency room of a general hospital, defining the clinical features of these children, thus leading to cost effective mental health policies and emergency services policies