adolescents with psych/behavioral problems location

[c Rose]

I work in a 24 bed paed (general paeds from feeding probs to onc) situated in general adult hospital. We are the tertiary referal unit for the state which means all adol psych come to us. We have concerns about the management of such clients. Particularily those who are aggressive or violent, as it is emotionally unsafe for our other patient and families, and at times physcially dangerous for both staff and other clients.

There is no adolescent psych inpatient team. They are managed by liason with a community adol psch medical team which is only available Mon-Fri. On w/e in severe casses the adult psych team will cover but are reluctant to.

We have recently had an 11yr old who ripped a sink off the wall and threw it,tried to rip power points off the wall. And was the focus of 16 code blacks. The adult psych unit can sometimes be convinced to take violent 15yrs+ but will not take younger patients into their high dependancy unit or unit.

We are constsntly seeking strategies to deal with this sort of thing . I would like to here from nurses from paed units situated in general hosp like us. Please email me i am trying to research this topic for a paper.

[This message has been edited by c Rose (edited April 10, 2001).]