Starting this week, hospitals in Washington state will be prohibited from boarding psychiatric patients in emergency departments while they wait for inpatient beds to open up. The change comes as a result of a state Supreme Court ruling.
The practice of holding acutely ill psychiatric patients in EDs—sometimes in hallways and makeshift holding areas—has reached crisis levels in hospitals nationwide as inpatient psychiatric beds have disappeared. A 2012 survey from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors found that 10% of hospitals are boarding psychiatric patients for several weeks.