Clinical trial NCT06655467: Understanding Psychological Distress and Therapeutic Environment in the Emergency Department
Official title: Understanding Psychological Distress and Therapeutic Environment in the Emergency Department
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Conditions: Mental Health
Substance Use (Drugs, Alcohol)
Psychological Distress
Lead sponsor: NHS Fife
Sponsor class: OTHER_GOV
Collaborators: name: Royal College of Emergency Medicine
First posted: 2024-10-23
Enrollment: 398
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 11
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with issues of mental health, substance use or psychological distress, whether or not this was the primary reason for presentation.

Brief summary: This research aims to establish the number of patients coming to Emergency Departments (EDs) with issues relating to mental health, alcohol or drugs, or in some form of psychological distress, including those for whom this was not the main reason for attending ED. We will collect anonymous information on age, gender, ethnicity, when and how they came to the ED, where and how they are cared for whilst in the ED, and what happens to them afterwards. With this information we hope to build a better picture of these patients so we can go on to design and test ways to improve their care in the future.

Detailed description: Those presenting to the Emergency Department with mental ill health, substance misuse or in crisis have a worse patient journey than those presenting with physical issues alone. They wait twice as long to be seen1 and have poorer experiences. Recognising this, the RCEM/James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership has placed mental health at the top of the Emergency Medicine research agenda. The question asked is: "How can care for mental health patients be optimised, whether presenting with either/both physical and mental health needs; including appropriate space to see patients, staff training, early recognition of symptoms, prioritisation, and patient experience?" An explicit research agenda has yet to emerge from this very broad question. At the most basic level, the patient population needs to be defined, the scale of the problem quantified, and current practice patterns and variation described in detail.

It has been estimated that the proportion of ED attendances related to "mental health disorders" is 4%. However these estimates are derived from retrospective data and are dependent on accurate diagnosis coding. There is a lack of data on dual diagnoses, which Scotland's Mental Health strategy has outlined as a key area for action, recommending opportunities to "pilot improved arrangements for dual diagnosis for people with problem substance use and mental health diagnosis". A literature review aiming to build a 'Typology' of psychiatric emergency services in the UK emphasised wide variation in provision and heterogeneity of models. No prospective study has yet quantified this variation in terms of waiting times, types of assessment offered, disposition and outcomes. The success of other large observational studies on ED presentations such as syncope, acute aortic syndromes and frailty suggests that a similar methodology could be applied to mental health and related presentations.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Issues of mental health AND/OR
* Issues of substance use AND/OR
* Psychological distress (this refers to patients without an established mental health or substance use disorder who nonetheless present in a distressed state, where distress is not caused by a readily identifiable and treatable physical condition) AND/OR
* Where the treating ED team feel the patient would benefit from some form of mental health or addictions assessment or intervention, whether carried out by ED staff, specialist services or third sector agencies.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients aged 10 and under.
2. Patients with distress caused by a physical condition, relieved by appropriate treatment.
3. Delirium, unless caused by a mental health- or substance-related disorder.
4. Patients with alcohol intoxication alone, without other evidence of harmful use of alcohol and without evidence of psychological distress.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Proportion fo ED attendance related to issues of mental health, substance use or psychological distress
timeFrame: 7 days
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Proportion of patients physically in ED who meet inclusion criteria at any one time
timeFrame: 7 days
measure: Comparison with coding data
timeFrame: 7 days
measure: Admission rate
timeFrame: 7 days
measure: Length of stay
timeFrame: 30 days
measure: Specialist mental health or addictions input in ED
timeFrame: 7 days
measure: Specialist referrals from ED
timeFrame: 7 days
measure: 7-day and 30-day follow-up
timeFrame: 30 days
measure: Clinician Confidence Scale
timeFrame: 7 days
measure: Resource Availability Scale
timeFrame: 7 days
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Kirkcaldy
country: United Kingdom
facility: Victoria Hospital
state: Fife
Study officials:
References:
citation: European Taskforce on Geriatric Emergency Medicine (ETGEM) collaborators. Prevalence of Frailty in European Emergency Departments (FEED): an international flash mob study. Eur Geriatr Med. 2024 Apr;15(2):463-470. doi: 10.1007/s41999-023-00926-3. Epub 2024 Feb 10.
citation: McLatchie R, Reed MJ, Freeman N, Parker RA, Wilson S, Goodacre S, Cowan A, Boyle J, Clarke B, Clarke E; DAShED investigators. Diagnosis of Acute Aortic Syndrome in the Emergency Department (DAShED) study: an observational cohort study of people attending the emergency department with symptoms consistent with acute aortic syndrome. Emerg Med J. 2024 Feb 20;41(3):136-144. doi: 10.1136/emermed-2023-213266.
citation: Reed MJ, Karuranga S, Kearns D, Alawiye S, Clarke B, Mockel M, Karamercan M, Janssens K, Riesgo LG, Torrecilla FM, Golea A, Fernandez Cejas JA, Lupan-Muresan EM, Zaimi E, Nuernberger A, Rennet O, Skjaerbaek C, Polyzogopoulou E, Imecz J, Groff P, Camilleri R, Cimpoesu D, Jovic M, Miro O, Anderson R, Laribi S; SEED investigators. Management of syncope in the Emergency Department: a European prospective cohort study (SEED). Eur J Emerg Med. 2024 Apr 1;31(2):136-146. doi: 10.1097/MEJ.0000000000001101. Epub 2023 Nov 27.
citation: Odejimi O, Bagchi D, Tadros G. Typology of psychiatric emergency services in the United Kingdom: a narrative literature review. BMC Psychiatry. 2020 Dec 10;20(1):587. doi: 10.1186/s12888-020-02983-5.
citation: Scottish Government (2017) Mental Health Strategy: 2017-2027. Crown Copyright. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2017/03/mental-health-strategy-2017-2027/documents/00516047-pdf/00516047-pdf/govscot%3Adocument/00516047.pdf
citation: Barratt H, Rojas-Garcia A, Clarke K, Moore A, Whittington C, Stockton S, Thomas J, Pilling S, Raine R. Epidemiology of Mental Health Attendances at Emergency Departments: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS One. 2016 Apr 27;11(4):e0154449. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154449. eCollection 2016.
citation: Baracaia S, McNulty D, Baldwin S, Mytton J, Evison F, Raine R, Giacco D, Hutchings A, Barratt H. Mental health in hospital emergency departments: cross-sectional analysis of attendances in England 2013/2014. Emerg Med J. 2020 Dec;37(12):744-751. doi: 10.1136/emermed-2019-209105. Epub 2020 Nov 5.
citation: Royal College of Emergency Medicine (2022) James Lind Alliance Emergency Medicine Priority Setting Partnership Refresh 2022. Available at: https://rcem.ac.uk/research-priorities/
citation: Digel Vandyk A, Young L, MacPhee C, Gillis K. Exploring the Experiences of Persons Who Frequently Visit the Emergency Department for Mental Health-Related Reasons. Qual Health Res. 2018 Mar;28(4):587-599. doi: 10.1177/1049732317746382. Epub 2017 Dec 12.
citation: Clarke DE, Dusome D, Hughes L. Emergency department from the mental health client's perspective. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2007 Apr;16(2):126-31. doi: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2007.00455.x.
citation: Royal College of Emergency Medicine (2022) RCEM Acute Insight Series: Mental Health Emergency Care. Available at: https://rcem.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/RCEM-Acute-Insight-Series-Mental-Health-Emergency-Care.pdf