CHAPTER 5: MENTAL HEALTH TRIAGE
CHAPTER 5: MENTAL HEALTH TRIAGE
Statement of purpose
The purposes of this chapter are to:
• Describe the clinical indicators for mental illness in the context of a generalist ED; and
• Discuss the clinical descriptors for each of the five ATS categories for patients presenting to the ED with acute behavioural disturbance and / or mental illness.
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Learning outcomes
After completing this chapter, participants will be able to describe the rapid assessment of mental illness related problems at triage, identify mental illness risk factors pertinent to triage, and apply an ATS category that reflects the person’ s need for emergency intervention.
Learning objectives
• Describe common mental health related presentations for different life stages( youth, adult, elderly) that may be seen at triage in a generalist ED.
• Identify specific risk factors associated with mental illness for ED triage.
• Apply the principles of mental health assessment in this context.
• Relate common types of mental health presentations with the descriptors provided within the ATS.
• Analyse approaches to mental health assessment in terms of strengths and weaknesses.
• Consider strategies that may improve mental health assessment at triage in your workplace.
Key points
• The usual primary-survey approach to assessing all incoming patients should be complete prior to commencing mental health assessment.
• Mental health triage is based on assessment of appearance, behaviour and conversation.
• The allocation of a triage code must be based on clinical criteria that are consistent with the ATS descriptors for acute behavioural disturbances and risk of harm to self or others.
Department of Health and Ageing – Emergency Triage Education Kit