Healio (12/4, Gramigna) reported, “Emergency psychiatric services and clinical and diagnostic COVID-19 screening of psychiatric emergency patients are needed during the ongoing pandemic,” investigators concluded after examining “sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric diagnoses, symptoms and disposition of patients evaluated for psychiatric emergency during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, between March 1 and April 30, with those seen immediately prior to this period, between January 1 and February 28.” Next, the research team “compared the same outcomes of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 with those who tested negative,” rating “prevalence and nature of stressors related to COVID-19 that affected the emergency presentation.” The findings were published online Oct. 28 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Emergency psychiatric services needed to address mental health fallout of COVID-19 era ”
Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 4, 2020

According to the AP (12/5, Tanner), “When children and teens are overwhelmed with anxiety, depression or thoughts of self-harm, they often wait days in emergency” departments due to the shortage of “psychiatric beds.” The issue has become more severe, however, amid “the pandemic, reports from parents and professionals suggest.” While children find themselves bearing “new burdens many are unequipped to bear,” swelling hospitalized COVID-19 patient totals have made bed space “even scarcer.” The AP added, “By early fall, many Massachusetts ERs were seeing about four times more children and teens in psychiatric crisis weekly than usual, said Ralph Buonopane, a mental health program director at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston.”

Related Links:

— “ER visits, long waits climb for kids in mental health crisis “Lindsey Tanner, AP, December 5, 2020

The New York Times (12/3, Wu) reports, “Across the nation, testing teams are grappling with burnout, repetitive-stress injuries and an overwhelming sense of doom.” While “supply chains sputter and laboratories rush to keep pace with diagnostic demand, experts warn that the most severe shortage stymieing America’s capacity to test is not one that can be solved by a wider production line or a more efficient machine.” The issue comes down to “a dearth of human power: the dwindling ranks in a field that much of the public does not know even exists.”

Related Links:

— “‘Nobody Sees Us’: Testing-Lab Workers Strain Under Demand ” Katherine J. Wu, The New York Times, December 3, 2020

The Washington Post (12/3, Wan) reports the COVID-19 “pandemic has pushed America’s 911 system and emergency responders to a breaking point, with ambulance operators exhausted and their services financially strained.” In fact, the situation “has grown so dire that the American Ambulance Association recently begged the Department of Health and Human Services for emergency funding of $2.62 billion in a letter.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (12/3, Mundell) reports, “For people struggling with drug addiction, 2020 has triggered a big rise in emergency” department “visits for cardiac arrest tied to drug overdoses,” investigators concluded “based on data involving 80% of emergency medical services (EMS) ‘activations’ across the” US. After analyzing “data on nearly 26 million EMS calls in 2020,” researchers found that overdose-related “cardiac arrests reached a peak in May, when lockdowns began to really take hold across the” US.

MedPage Today (12/3, Hlavinka) reports, “As of Oct. 31, 2020, all but nine U.S. states had reported increases in opioid-related mortality, according to the American Medical Association.” Investigators posited that “the pandemic may have disrupted the supply of narcotics for some patients, leading them to consume drugs that have traces of fentanyl or other substances triggering an overdose.” In addition, “the psychological and financial tolls of the pandemic may also be driving people to use substances more often.” The findingswere published online Dec. 3 in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Pandemic Is Driving U.S. Surge in Cardiac Arrests Tied to Overdose ” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, December 3, 2020