Akutversorgung psychisch kranker Kinder und Jugendlicher: Eine Pilotstudie an 257 PatientInnen

OBJECTIVE: Challenging development tasks, problematic social environments and psychiatric disorder can result in crisis leading to an emergency consultation at child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP). The study aims to describe a representative clinical sample of patients seeking help at an acute CAP outpatient clinic. METHODS: Data from the initial assessment tool for CAP and data gained from the hospital IT-System were analyzed. The study site is the only hospital in the country of Salzburg in Austria with a specialized emergency unit for CAP patients. RESULTS: Out of the 257 patients, 53.7% were female. Boys significantly more often presented with externalizing symptoms and because of external factors. Girls significantly more often reported the presence of suicidal thoughts. Symptoms that led to consultation often were present for more than a week prior to consultation, in some cases even longer than 6 months. 51% of the children and adolescents were treated at the inpatient unit, 43% at the closed unit, where they stayed for a mean of 3 nights. CONCLUSIONS: Many patients, who attended the child and adolescent psychiatry emergency showed a long duration of presenting symptoms. Suicidal tendency was a common reason for consultation and often led to a closed inpatient treatment. Developing concepts for acute situations—like primary, secondary and tertiary suicide prevention—as well as improving the easier access to child and adolescent psychiatric services seems necessary.