Human-Centered Design to Improve Care for Youths Experiencing Psychiatric Boarding.

The number of children and adolescents presenting to hospitals with mental health conditions has increased markedly over the past decade. A dearth of pediatric mental health resources prevents delivering definitive psychiatric care to this population at many hospitals; thus, children and adolescents must wait at a medical facility until appropriate psychiatric care becomes available (an experience described as psychiatric "boarding"). Clinicians caring for youth experiencing psychiatric boarding report inadequate training and resources to provide high-quality care to this population, and patients and caregivers describe significant frustration with the current standard of care.