ED cry for help by teens
THE number of children aged 10-19 presenting at Victorian emergency departments with mental health problems has increased dramatically.
Experts warn it’s a sign prevention and treatment in the community is failing and these children are like “canaries in a coalmine.”
Children with mental health problems were more likely to be triaged as urgent, be admitted to hospital, and present after hours than those with physical problems.
They place a larger burden on ED resources than patients with physical illness or injuries.
Lead author Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s Prof Harriet Hiscock said mental health presentations increased 46 per cent between 2008-2015.
“Mental health presentations have tripled compared to physical health presentations.”
The most common reasons were intentional self-harm and psychoactive substance use.
Prof Hiscock is concerned at the rapid rise in children presenting with anxiety, depression and behavioural problems.
She said some parents didn’t realise their child’s physical problem stemmed from a mental health issue.
In a separate editorial, professors Susan Sawyer and George Patton, from the MCRI and Royal Children’s Hospital, said this data should be seen as “canaries in a coalmine.”
“Despite major investments in the mental health service system, it is failing to provide alternatives to emergency departments for adolescents in crisis,” they wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia.