Re: Too many mentally ill patients admitted?
I currently work in a psych facility. I've worked in ER and am going back to it in a few weeks.
There are not enough psych beds. Here, ER staff, especially the docs hate treating mentally ill pts in the ER, sometimes to the point of totally ignoring their medical issues like diabetes.
Nobody holds psych patients in patient for long enough. Our facility is a pretty good one, but we will discharge to home, the community-based resources, shelters, or state beds. The state keeps them a few days and releases them. They wind up with us, we send them back and it just becomes a revolving door for both places.
The idea that the mentally ill are treated properly in the community-which is why a lot of facilities were shut down decades ago-is a joke. There are not enough places, not enough money, and nobody wants to take care of these folks. The patients themselves can't get their meds or don't want to take them.
It really breaks my heart sometimes. We get so many who come here, get stablized and a month or two later wind up back with us. Mostly because there just is not enough support for them in the community and they really can't take care of themselves.
Too many mentally ill patients admitted?
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