Eapen Valsamma, Gerstl Brigitte, Winata Teresa, Jairam Rajeev, Barton Giles, Bowden Michael
Academic Unit of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services (AUCS), SWSLHD and Ingham Institute, Australia.
Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Int J Integr Care. 2023 Aug 10;23(3):4. doi: 10.5334/ijic.7004. eCollection 2023 Jul-Sep.
As the number of children and young people (CYP) presenting to Emergency Departments (ED) with acute mental health (MH) presentations has been steadily increasing over the years and further accelerated by the pandemic, there is an urgent need to develop and evaluate innovative solutions to respond to this growing challenge.
The evaluation of the Safeguards Teams Program (STP) aims to ascertain the impact, implementation and economic analysis of this acute rapid response recovery-focused, trauma-informed assessment and brief intervention for CYP (aged 0-17 years) presenting in acute MH crisis and their families/caregivers.The STP will support consumers (patients) and their families/caregivers to navigate the complex and often fragmented child and adolescent MH services (CAMHS) landscape, thereby avoiding unnecessary ED presentations or hospitalisations, and facilitating comprehensive assessment and appropriate care pathways for those who present in crisis.
The STP is expected to provide CYP in MH crisis and their support networks with early access to evidence-based specialist care at the right place and time.
Implementation of the STP will assist with identifying and addressing gaps in acute care for CYP and provide the necessary evidence for service redesign in collaboration with consumers, service providers and other stakeholders.
多年来，前往急诊科（ED）就诊的患有急性心理健康（MH）问题的儿童和青少年（CYP）数量一直在稳步增加，疫情更是加速了这一增长，因此迫切需要开发和评估创新解决方案，以应对这一日益严峻的挑战。
对保障团队计划（STP）的评估旨在确定该计划对处于急性MH危机中的CYP（0至17岁）及其家庭/照顾者进行以创伤知情为重点、旨在实现急性快速反应恢复的评估和简短干预的影响、实施情况和经济分析。STP将支持消费者（患者）及其家庭/照顾者在复杂且往往分散的儿童和青少年心理健康服务（CAMHS）体系中找到方向，从而避免不必要的急诊科就诊或住院，并为处于危机中的患者提供全面评估和适当的护理途径。
预计STP将为处于MH危机中的CYP及其支持网络在合适的地点和时间提供早期获得循证专科护理的机会。
实施STP将有助于识别和解决CYP急性护理中的差距，并与消费者、服务提供者和其他利益相关者合作，为服务重新设计提供必要的证据。
