The Use of Telepsychiatry to Provide Cost-Efficient Care During Pediatric Mental Health Emergencies.

Objective: This study evaluated a videoconference-based psychiatric emergency consultation program (telepsychiatry) at geographically dispersed emergency department (ED) sites that are part of the network of care of an academic children's hospital system. The study compared program outcomes with those of usual care involving ambulance transport to the hospital for in-person psychiatric emergency consultation prior to disposition to inpatient care or discharge home.

Methods: This study compared process outcomes in a cross-sectional, pre-post design at five network-of-care sites before and after systemwide implementation of telepsychiatry consultation in 2015.

Reducing cycle times in pediatric emergency medicine.

Objective: Reducing cycle times in pediatric emergency medicine is an ongoing challenge to practitioners and institutions who strive to provide outstanding medical care in a caring and efficient manner amid the chaotic environment of a busy emergency department. For institutions that wish to undertake such a task, there is scant pediatric literature on these topics. The objectives of this study were to reduce emergency department cycle times and to set a benchmark in these areas for pediatric emergency medicine.