Emergency Department Standards: Pathways for youth from emergency departments to community services - Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy

Research Summary

Youth with mental health and substance use concerns increasingly rely on emergency departments due to barriers accessing community services, however emergency departments are often ill equipped to support them. This project aims to develop a quality standard for youth mental health and substance use care in emergency departments in British Columbia, Canada. It builds on the ED2Foundry study, which aimed to understand the assessment, treatment, and referral of youth (aged 12-24) presenting to the emergency department for mental health and substance use concerns and explores how to improve the transitions to community services.

This involved 1) identifying and summarizing evidence on current best practices for mental health and substance use assessment, treatment, and referrals to appropriate services when youth access the emergency department for mental health and substance use concerns, 2) consulting with a technical committee of experts, including youth (n=3), caregivers (n=3), service providers (n=7), and decision makers (n=2), to acquire their input and recommendations for providing quality mental health and substance use care in emergency department settings, and 3) disseminating the quality standard across the province and nationally.

We are currently exploring theories, frameworks, and strategies used to guide the implementation of mental health and substance use interventions in emergency department settings to help inform the implementation of the standard across British Columbia.

Impact & Outputs

Publication: Towards a Quality Standard for Emergency Departments: Improving Mental Health and Substance Use Care for Youth in British Columbia, Canada

Publication: Emergency Department Quality Standard for Youth MHSC Care Handout (IAYMH Conference, 2025)

Article: Glowacki K, Whyte M, Weinstein J, Marchand K, Barbic D, Scheuermeyer F, Mathias S, Barbic S. Exploring how to enhance care and pathways between the emergency department and integrated youth services for young people with mental health and substance use concerns. BMC Health Services Research. 2022;22:615. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-07990-8