Reducing Delay From Referral to Admission at a U.S. First-Episode Psychosis Service: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Maria Ferrara*, Keith Gallagher, Laura A Yoviene Sykes, Philip Markovich, Fangyong Li, Jessica M Pollard, Shannon Imetovski, John Cahill, Sinan Guloksuz, Vinod H Srihari

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), the period between psychosis onset and entry into care, is a time of great vulnerability. Longer DUP predicts poorer outcomes, and delayed treatment access can limit the effectiveness of coordinated specialty care (CSC) services. This column details one component of a broader early detection campaign, a quality improvement intervention focusing on reducing the delay between confirmation of eligibility and admission to care within a benchmark period of 7 days. Median delay significantly fell (from 13.5 to 3 days), and the proportion of admissions that met the benchmark increased (from 33% to 71%) over 4 years. This intervention provides a sustainable model to reduce wait times at CSC services.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1416-1419
Number of pages4
JournalPsychiatric Services
Volume73
Issue number12
Early online date2 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022

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