Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2022 - 27

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH / FEATURE
children's hospitals reduce readmissions.
At the University of Maryland
Children's Hospital (UMCH), a program
connects youths discharging
from the psychiatric inpatient unit
with a transition specialist to help improve
communication among the hospital,
schools and the patient's family.
The transition specialist attends
BY THE NUMBERS
The mental health crisis
school meetings and creates individualized
plans to reduce family
stress and improve outcomes for the
student. " This intervention has shown
to reduce 30-day readmissions, which
is important at a time when there
are limited inpatient beds and staff
to treat youth, " says Sarah Edwards,
D.O., medical director, Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry Services at the
University of Maryland Children's
Hospital (UMCH), and assistant professor
and director, Division of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry at the
University of Maryland School of
Medicine. Initially, the program was
funded through a grant and has since
become part of the hospital's budget.
In addition to school-based behavioral
health efforts, Liaw says behavioral
health education programs could
be introduced early in a child's education,
with behavioral health curriculums
starting as early as kindergarten
and pre-K. This practice could serve
two purposes.
First, trained professionals would
teach kids from an early age how to
put words to their feelings and alleviate
discomfort in talking about mental
health. Second, it would introduce
more youth to the field of psychology
and may spark a lifelong career. " Build
programs from kindergarten through
grade 12, " Liaw says. " By the time they
get to high school, they've essentially
taken Psychology 101. They can start
earning credits and understand different
career paths. " Liaw says doing
so might increase interest in careers
in the behavioral health field across
more diverse populations.
During the COVID-19 pandemic,
children and families have
experienced tremendous stress
driven by social isolation,
financial insecurity, and grief,
which is exacerbating the crisis
in children's mental health. As a
result, children's hospitals have
seen an increase in the number of
emergency department (ED) and
inpatient visits for suicidal thoughts
or self-harm, with visits more than
doubling since 2016. Data from
the Pediatric Health Information
System®, a comparative database
with clinical and resource utilization
data, shows how the pandemic
influenced behavioral health related
visits in children's hospitals for kids
ages 5 to 18.
Percent change in cases from 2016 to 2021
ED cases
100%
120%
140%
160%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
160%
20%
40%
60%
80%
75.7%
31.3%
Mental health
34.3%
Depressive disorder
Sucide-self injury
Source: Pediatric Health Information System®
153.1%
45.6%
27.5%
Inpatient cases
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Spring 2022
27
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2022

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