Child psych patients suffer long emergency room wait periods

LYNN – Alice Morse spent at least eight hours recently in a Salem hospital waiting room until she finally got her son admitted to a child psychiatric unit.?The process in the emergency room is horrible and I think that?s why more people don?t do it,” Morse said during a recent interview at Union Hospital in Lynn. “It was insane. I can tell you that I just wanted to leave. Multiple times I thought, you know what, I?m just going to go home because I just can?t wait anymore. It?s a long process.”But Morse decided to stay and because of that her 15-year-old son recently got the inpatient psychiatric care he needed.But not before he also had to endure the long wait.?It?s a horrible time for the child too, to have to wait that long,” Morse said. “It?s not just me. It?s him. I have no answers to the questions he?s asking because I don?t know what?s going on. And then the anxiety builds in your child and in you.”Jonathan Stevens, the Medical Director of Child Psychiatric Services for the North Shore Medical Center, said the experience endured by Morse would likely be little different in most hospitals in Massachusetts.Stevens is in charge of the secure children?s psychiatric unit at Union Hospital in Lynn.?By the time they (parents) get to our unit, their nerves are jangled to say the least.” Stevens said during a recent interview at Union Hospital. “Parents talk about waiting in emergency rooms for days and nights. I hate to say eight hours is average, but it is average. This is not just Salem?s emergency room or this emergency room, but across the commonwealth and across the United States.”Stevens believes the lack of beds in secure psychiatric units for children across the state, combined with the lack of knowledge of some parents and doctors about the treatment that?s available – along with the time it takes to get insurance approval – is causing the long waits.I think the services that are available like ours is going down,” Stevens said. “There?s more strain on the system and I think budgets are shrinking and the first thing that gets cut is insurance.”Then, if doctors have to conference about a child?s condition while he or she is in a waiting room with their parents, that also slows down the process of getting someone admitted for psychiatric care, Stevens said.And although most of the kids that are treated in the child psychiatric unit at Union Hospital are from Lynn or the surrounding area, others come from across the state.?It?s not uncommon to see kids from Western Mass. and Fall River, so imagine (the drive) for the family if they want to see their kids every day, they have to drive two hours each way, it?s excruciating,” Stevens said. “On the other hand, many of them are happy just to have a place to go. Otherwise what would the alternative be?”Plus, the decision about whether to put their child in a secure facility is tough for families to make, he said.?Many families are leaving their child for the first time and they want to know it?s a safe place, where strangers aren?t coming in and their child isn?t wandering off,” Stevens said. “People say, why a locked door? Why those kind of security issues? It?s really because there?s a trust that it helps to build.”Morse said her son, who suffers from an intermittent explosive disorder, had to see multiple doctors during their wait in the emergency room, all while he grew more tense.?He was very, very anxious,” Morse said about her son during the wait. “He was extremely agitated. He wanted to know if he was going home, when we were going home, what time? It was just an extremely, extremely long day.”Maria Stacy, Director of Acute and Sub Acute Child and Adolescent Services at North Shore Medical Center, said hospital officials are trying to work with insurance providers, patients and other doctors to streamline the process, so families either don?t have to wait in the emergency room or the wait will be greatly reduced.?If somebody has been seen or evaluated by a psychiatrist o