Abstract | Team Approach Decreases Behavioral Health-Related Violence

St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH) is a 445-bed teaching hospital in a busy metropolitan area. To support the growing need for acute pediatric psychiatric care, the institution expanded to include a 14-bed inpatient psychiatric unit in mid-2019. However, the behavioral health needs of patients throughout the hospital continued to increase due to the developing pediatric behavioral health crisis. SLCH was experiencing an increase in the number of developmentally disabled and psychiatric patients with medical needs. To further complicate the situation, the global pandemic exacerbated an already critical staffing shortage.

The opening of the pediatric inpatient psychiatric unit introduced a new population of patients to the organization. Additionally, the increased presence of behavioral health patients on inpatient medical units and in the emergency department (ED) presented the need for experts in behavioral health to be available to better serve this population. A robust process and team were needed to address and support the management of patients exhibiting acute crisis events both within the pediatric psychiatric unit and throughout the hospital. 

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