"Behavioral health patients spend a significantly longer time waiting in emergency departments (EDs) when compared to general-medical emergency patients. These long lengths of stay in the ED is a phenomenon known as psychiatric boarding. Psychiatric boarding occurs when a behavioral health patient spends an excessive period in the ED after the decision to discharge or admit the patient has been made.

My project was dedicated to evaluating the causes and consequences of psychiatric boarding and possible interventions to address psychiatric boarding. After evaluation of the evidence supporting various interventions, I developed a three-tiered intervention plan that recommends hospitals and health systems prevent and mitigate the impact of psychiatric boarding by: 1) providing specialized psychiatric training to ED personnel; 2) making alterations to the physical layout and staffing of EDs; and 3) developing alternative psychiatric-emergency facilities."