2023 SAEMF/RAMS Resident Research Grant - $5,000

"Patient Perspective on Reducing Bias During ED Intake of ED Psychiatric Patients"

Disparities and inequities in emergency and specifically emergency psychiatric care are multifactorial. The first few minutes a patient is brought to the emergency department (ED), evaluated for psychiatric stability and determined to be safe or unsafe to themselves and others, including ED staff, is a critical stage of care impacting the whole clinical encounter. During the ED Psychiatric Intake and Safety Assessment (ED PISA) process, we have limited information and have to make rapid decisions about a high-stakes situation, a recipe for bias impacting care decisions. This project seeks to learn more about the potential areas of improvement in the ED PISA process from the eyes of our patients to reduce potential bias and improve care. We will use disparity framework-guided qualitative methods to gain a better understanding of our patient's perspectives, challenges, and areas for improvements in this process. Then we will use codesign methods with key interested parties to create an adapted ED PISA process in preparation for a future implementation grant.