Emergency department visits in the United States climbed by 15% overall from 2006 to 2014. Over the same time period, ED visits by people with mental health issues soared by 44%, according to a report from the Agency for Health Care Research & Quality.
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“The extent to which ERs are now flooded with patients with mental illness is unprecedented,” David R. Rubinow, MD, chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said in an interview with CNN.
This overflow is “having a really destructive effect on health care delivery in general,” Dr. Rubinow said. “There are ERs now that are repeatedly on diversion – which means they can’t see any more patients – because there are so many patients with mental illness or behavioral problems [who] are populating the ER.”
Physicians such as Mark D. Pearlmutter, MD, are convinced that EDs have become the medical refuge for many people with mental illness. “We are the safety net,” said Dr. Pearlmutter, an emergency physician affiliated with Steward Health Care in Brighton, Mass. Dr. Pearlmutter said some patients he has seen in the ED often have dual diagnoses, such as “substance abuse and depression, for example.”
As a result of this situation, patients with psychiatric needs might not receive the care that they really need, and care might be delayed for patients with other life-threatening conditions. “The ER is not a great place if you’re a mental health patient; the cardiac patients get put in front of you, and you could end up being there for a really long time, said David Morris, PhD, a psychologist at the O’Donnell Brain Institute in Dallas.
, Dr. Pearlmutter suggested. After all, increasingly, primary care physicians are providing mental health care.
Twists on New Year’s resolutions
Some people bring in each new year by shifting their perspectives – without making resolutions.
Tim Ferriss, an entrepreneur known for blogs and podcasts on work and life, engages in what he calls “past year reviews,” where accomplishments are tallied frequently throughout the year in terms of their positive or negative effect, with the latter being ruled out for the coming year. Over a few years, he hopes, the list of negatives will shrink and the positive items will increase, according to a post on the NBC News website.
Instead of making resolutions, Oprah Winfrey keeps a journal that is updated nightly with five things that spark gratitude. “I live in the present moment. I try to find the good that’s going on in any given situation,” Ms. Winfrey said in a 2017 interview. The practice has taught her to be careful in her personal wishes.
Melinda Gates starts the new year with a single word to provide guidance. Past examples include “gentle,” “spacious,” and, last year, “grace.” Her selections, she said, have helped her sharpen her focus on the really important aspects of her life.
“[Grace] even helped me find a beam of peace through the sadness of a friend’s funeral. When I was upset or distressed, I whispered to myself: ‘Grace.’ That’s the power of a well-chosen word of the year. It makes the year better – and it helps me be better, too, she wrote in a recent LinkedIn post.