{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T19:09:51Z","timestamp":1784056191188,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,13]],"date-time":"2020-06-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1592006400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Psychiatric disorders constitute frequent causes of emergency department (ED) admissions and these rates are increasing. However, referring to ED a whole range of conditions that could or should be dealt with elsewhere is imposing itself as a problematic situation. We aimed: (1) to provide a descriptive picture of the socio-demographic and diagnostic characteristics of the visits among adults at the psychiatric ED; (2) to estimate the clinical pertinence of these visits. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of diagnostic\/socio-demographic characteristics and clinical trajectories of patients admitted for a psychiatric condition at the adult psychiatric ED of the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, during a 6-week timespan. Results: In our sample (n = 763 total admissions for psychiatric conditions; n = 702 for inclusion of patients having received a medical evaluation), depression\/anxiety, suicidal behavior (SB), psychotic episode, and substance use disorder (SUD), in descending order, were the most common diagnoses for referral. Patients belonged to younger age groups (\u226465 years), had a familial status other than married\/in couple, and did not present an unfavorable socio-demographic profile. Concerning the pertinence for a psychiatric ED, primary diagnosis of depression\/anxiety is the only variable significantly associated with different grade of degree. By the examination of the patients\u2019 trajectory from admission to discharge, the clinical pertinence for a psychiatric ED admission existed for cases assigned to the Echelle Suisse du Tri (EST\u00ae) scale degree 1 (corresponding to most urgent and severe conditions), particularly for diagnoses of depression\/anxiety associated with SB, SB as primary or comorbid diagnosis, and psychotic and manic\/hypomanic episode. However, diagnoses of depression\/anxiety without urgent and severe features (degrees 2, 3, 4) constituted the most frequent mode of presentation. Conclusions: Ambulatory and community-integrated settings could be more appropriate for the majority of patients admitted to adult psychiatric EDs. Moreover, the implementation of telepsychiatry strategies represents a very promising opportunity to offer these patients care continuity, reduce costs and filter the demand for psychiatric ED.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina56060295","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,15]],"date-time":"2020-06-15T03:17:32Z","timestamp":1592191052000},"page":"295","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Who Consult an Adult Psychiatric Emergency Department? Pertinence of Admissions and Opportunities for Telepsychiatry"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"56","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6387-6462","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Costanza","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva (UNIGE), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, ASO Santi Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo Hospital, 15121 Alessandria, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Viridiana","family":"Mazzola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Service of Liaison Psychiatry and Crisis Intervention, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michalina","family":"Radomska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology, University of Geneva (UNIGE), 1206 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3439-340X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Amerio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, Section of Psychiatry, University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy"},{"name":"IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy"},{"name":"Mood Disorders Program, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Aguglia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, Section of Psychiatry, University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy"},{"name":"IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paco","family":"Prada","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva (UNIGE), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Service of Liaison Psychiatry and Crisis Intervention, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guido","family":"Bondolfi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva (UNIGE), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"},{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Service of Liaison Psychiatry and Crisis Intervention, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fran\u00e7ois","family":"Sarasin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva (UNIGE), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"},{"name":"Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine Unit, Geneva University Hospitals, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5775-4589","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julia","family":"Ambrosetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Emergency Department, Emergency Psychiatric Unit, Geneva University Hospitals, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"561","DOI":"10.1067\/mem.2001.111762","article-title":"Frequent use of the hospital emergency department is indicative of high use of other health care services","volume":"37","author":"Hansagi","year":"2001","journal-title":"Ann. 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