Whatever you want to call it, we all know that uncomfortable gray place in dual diagnosis management. Poly substance abuse, mental illness, compounded with unpredictable, wild and bizarre behaviors is this a policing problem, community mental health or EMS. How you handle these calls is largely the interchange between location, resources, and community standards. But, experience and knowledge can influence how successful you are.
Learning Objectives:
Appraise personal experience with patients in crisis, and the group’s collective scope of experience in mental health encounters (and/or possible mental health) in EMS
Discuss decision making when dealing with patients in crises: What is crises and who experiences them with reflection on case studies and experiences.
State intervention goals, and potential outcomes for dealing with crises. Apply objective signs of substance impairment.