Children in a mental health crisis can spend days languishing in the ER

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Children who go to emergency departments in a mental health crisis and need to be hospitalized often end up stuck there for days, a new study finds. That happens in roughly one in ten of all mental health emergency visits for children enrolled in Medicaid across the country.

The most common mental health crises that led to such extended stays, or boarding, were depressive disorders and suicidal thoughts and attempts, according to the study published in JAMA Health Forum .

"So a child shows up at an emergency department with a mental health condition, [and] about one in ten times, they're staying for three days or longer," says lead study author John McConnell , director of the Center for Health Systems Effectiveness at Oregon Health and Science U