Psychiatric Phone Triage & Crisis Intervention

phil c · Apr 24, 2000

in reply to your question i work in cornwall, england. for a number of years now we have implemented a 'duty desk' within the team strategy.the purpose of the duty desk is to respond to crisis from patients known to the service and psychiatric emergencies referred by the local community doctors (general practitioners or g.p).a lot of this work involves crisis telephone sessions.the responsibility of manning the duty desk is shared by the team of community based nurses.we did operate a team specifically focused on crisis intervention however, this created more work for itself than was necessary.if you want more details ask me.

Jentemi · Jun 5, 2000

I work on a crisis assessment treatment team (C.A.T.T) in Wellington, New Zealand. We provide a 7 day per week, 24 hour service. Most of our referrals come from the community e.g. self, families, G.P's, police, and the rest of the mental health services for known clients. We do alot of phone triarge work and intervention over the phone. I am not at work at the moment, but my email address at work is [email protected], if you would like more information, I am quite happy to share what I have.

Druid · Jun 15, 2000

I work in Admissions @ Seton Shoal Creek Hospital here in Austin, Tx. Quite a bit of my job is spent on telephone triage, perhaps as much as 50% some days. I feel I've gotten quite adept at culling out the real emergencies from what could best be handled on an outpatient basis or perhaps a trip to the ER. Basically boils down to the two main ingredients (most of the time): does the client present as a danger to themselves or others and/or are they willing to commit to safety. A large percentage of calls are from the wives, husbands, friends, etc., of alcoholics and drug users. My first question to them: Can you put the person you're concerned about on the phone? Or, Do they want to stop using and voluntarily come into the hospital for an assessment.