Friday, December 26, 2008

Study will try to improve how mentally ill are cared for in ERs Hospitals have seen increase in mentally ill patients.

Mental health experts in Austin are hoping a research project will help them revamp the way psychiatric patients are treated in emergency rooms.

Advocacy Inc., an Austin-based organization focused on disability rights, is examining what happens to mentally ill patients brought to Austin hospitals because of a psychiatric crisis. The organization will look at things such as how they are medically cared for, how staffers treat them personally and how the environment of often-chaotic emergency rooms affects their mental illnesses.

READ MORE @ AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN