Diagnostic Overshadowing of the Psychiatric Population in the Emergency Department: Physiological Factors Identified for an Early Warning System.

Background: Many people with mental disorders in the United States remain either medically untreated or inadequately treated, which is often attributed to diagnostic overshadowing, a common occurrence across the nation in emergency departments.

Objective: The aim of this research is to create a tool that supports accurate assessment and distinguishing behavioral symptoms between psychiatric illness and coexisting medical conditions in the emergency department, thus leading to appropriate care and placement.

Design: Retrospective cohort design of 133 psychiatric admissions were reviewed between the years 2011 and 2015.

Development of the Edmonson Psychiatric Fall Risk Assessment Tool.

The purpose of this study was to develop a fall risk assessment instrument for the inpatient psychiatric population. Nine risk factors were identified through a review of the literature. The instrument was applied retrospectively to patient records, and the percentage of those who fell who triggered each of the items in each domain was calculated.