Improving access to acute mental health services in a general hospital

Abstract

Background: There is a paucity of service research on the effectiveness of short-term mental health clinics.

Aims: To outline the development of the Urgent Consultation Clinic (UCC), an inter-professional, short-term, mental health program in a general hospital, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the UCC from a quality improvement perspective.

Method: Participants (n = 143) completed a battery of validated measures assessing psychological and physical symptoms, quality of life, life satisfaction, and satisfaction with services at three time-points. Inter-professional team members rated participants' overall functioning and severity of mental health problems at intake and termination.

Results: The median time from referral to initial UCC visit was 12 days. A significant decline in the severity of mental health symptoms was observed, with 87% of participants reporting clinically elevated symptoms at intake compared to 71% at termination. Significant improvements were observed in life satisfaction, overall functioning, and mental quality of life. Sixty-nine percent of participants rated the quality of services as good or excellent.

Conclusions: The UCC model of care contributed to improved access to psychiatric evaluation and short-term treatment. This inter-professional model could be applied to other health care settings to meet the needs of patients requiring acute psychiatric services.

Keywords:

• Program evaluation
• outpatients
• acute care

Acknowledgments

This research was supported, in part, by the Primary Health Care Transition Fund through the Federal and Ontario Ministry of Health. The authors thank Dr. Mary-Clare Royle and Ms. Laura Nichols for their help with this project. The authors also thank staff members from the Urgent Consultation Clinic at the Ottawa Hospital-General Campus for their involvement in this research.