Paramedic PapersHome Topics Mental health (patients)
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Mental health (patients) research
9 recent papers on mental health (patients) in paramedic and prehospital care, newest first. Each has a plain-English summary, the study design, the main finding and caveat, and what it means for Australian practice.
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Rural self-harm deaths before ambulance arrival
An Iranian cross-sectional study of 2,280 EMS-attended self-directed violence cases found 5.4% died before EMS arrival, with higher odds in rural locations (aOR 2.08), older patients (aOR 1.03/year) and morning calls (aOR 2.14 vs evening).
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Building a prehospital suicidal-ideation policy from scratch
A Los Angeles County EMS quality improvement committee developed a comprehensive prehospital policy for suicidal ideation and behaviour after identifying gaps in standardised terminology, risk assessment, disposition support and safety planning.
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Paramedics underconfident with alcohol-related call-outs
A narrative review of paramedics' perceptions of patients who use alcohol found five themes — workload, impact, training, confidence and attitudes — with confidence dropping beyond basic conversations and attitudes often negative due to limited training and resources.
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Mapping medical clearance of psychiatric ED patients
Scoping review mapping medical screening practices for adult psychiatric patients presenting to ED — identified 8 themes (laboratory testing, history taking, vital signs, physical examination, diagnostic imaging, screening tools, ECG, system-level factors), with society recommendations discouraging routine lab testing.
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FDSV rarely detected in virtual ED
Retrospective cohort of Victoria's Virtual ED — only 21 FDSV presentations identified among 173,936 visits (0.012%), suggesting significant under-detection
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Perspectives on paediatric ED mental health care
Care recipients and care providers identified challenges in service coordination, clinician readiness and the ED environment.
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Research agenda for paediatric mental health emergencies
This consensus-based research agenda, which integrates diverse perspectives, informs the need for research to improve identification and management of children at risk of harming themselves or others in the out-of-hospital and emergency department settings.
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Teen and caregiver views on lethal means counselling
Lethal means safety counseling is an essential, high-yield component of suicide prevention.
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Ketamine vs propofol for aeromedical psychiatric sedation
In this RCT of 170 patients, ketamine was associated with fewer adverse events compared to propofol when used for sedation during aeromedical retrieval of patients experiencing acute psychiatric agitation.