IMPORTANCE: To prevent suicide deaths, acute care settings need tools to ensure individuals at risk of suicide access mental health care and remain safe until they do so. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of brief acute care suicide prevention interventions with patients’…

A national quality measure in the Child Core Set is used to assess whether pediatric patients hospitalized for a mental illness receive timely follow-up care. In this study, we examine the relationship between adherence to the quality measure and repeat use of the emergency department…

Despite significant income-related disparities in pediatric sleep, few early childhood sleep interventions have been tailored for or tested with families of lower socio-economic status (SES). This qualitative study assessed caregiver and clinician perspectives to inform adaptation…

Primary care has been promoted as a setting to identify and manage adolescent depression. This study examined primary care-based adolescent depression identification and follow-up care when elevated symptoms were identified. Data came from a large pediatric care network with an…

Two million adolescents experience suicidal ideation (SI) or suicide attempt (SA) annually, and they frequently present to emergency departments. Delays in transfer to inpatient psychiatric units increasingly lead to “boarding” in emergency departments and inpatient medical units. We…

Behavioral health issues have a profound impact on the overall health and well-being of youth and their families. Early identification and timely, effective prevention and treatment of behavioral health conditions provide youth the opportunity to be their healthiest selves. Our…

OBJECTIVE: To examine trends in mental health (MH) visits to pediatric emergency departments (EDs) and identify whether ED disposition varies by presence of a hospital inpatient psychiatric unit (IPU). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of 8,479,311 ED visits to 35 children's…

Behavioral health issues during childhood and adolescence play out every day in homes, schools and health care settings, and are increasingly being highlighted on the national stage: the rise of youth suicide, increases in adolescent depression, social pressures, and many other…

Because of longstanding shortages of pediatric mental health clinicians and inpatient psychiatric hospital beds, many children have unmet mental health needs. Some of these children seek safety-net care in children’s hospitals and emergency departments (EDs) for mental health crises,…

Behavioral health issues are common in hospitalized children. One PolicyLab study found that although up to half of children hospitalized for a physical health condition have behavioral health needs or psychological distress during their stay, they may not regularly receive treatment…