Reducing Pediatric Mental Health Boarding and Increasing Acute Care Access.

Background: There have been notable increases in pediatric mental health boarding in the United States in recent years, with youth remaining in emergency departments or admitted to inpatient medical/surgical units, awaiting placement in psychiatric treatment programs.

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the outcomes of interventions to reduce boarding and improve access to acute psychiatric services at a large tertiary pediatric hospital during a national pediatric mental health crisis.

Methods: Boarding interventions included expanding inpatient psychiatric beds and hiring additional staff for enhanced crisis stabilization services and treatment initiation in the emergency department and on inpatient medical/surgical units for boarding patients awaiting placement.

Implementing patient-reported outcome measures on an adolescent inpatient psychiatry unit: A feasibility study.

This article examines the feasibility of implementing patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures with adolescents on an inpatient psychiatry service. During the study period (March 8, 2021, to June 7, 2022), a total of 154 patient encounters were recorded for adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age. PROs were piloted during the first 3 months of the study period, with a focus on technical implementation.

Operational Changes on Child and Adolescent Acute Psychiatric Treatment Programs During COVID-19.

This Letter to the Editor examines the operational changes on two child and adolescent acute psychiatric treatment programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. On an inpatient unit with roughly two-thirds of its beds in double-occupancy rooms, we found that average daily census and total admissions were lower in the early pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period, whereas length of stay was significantly longer. In contrast, a community-based acute treatment program with only single-occupancy rooms showed an increase in average daily census, and no significant change in admissions or length of stay during the early pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Pediatric Mental Health Presentations and Boarding: First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: Psychiatric boarding occurs when patients remain in emergency departments or are admitted to inpatient medical/surgical units to await placement at psychiatric treatment programs. Boarding was already increasing in the United States over the past decade, and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has only further profoundly affected the mental health of youth. The current study aims to describe psychiatric diagnoses and boarding among pediatric patients presenting to the hospital after the pandemic onset.

Watermelon consumption improves inflammation and antioxidant capacity in rats fed an atherogenic diet.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. Watermelon, rich in antioxidants and other bioactive components, may be a viable method to improve CVD risk factors through reduced oxidative stress. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of watermelon powder consumption on lipid profiles, antioxidant capacity, and inflammation in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-treated rats fed an atherogenic diet.