Who Should Be Seen When? Establishing Wait Time Benchmarks for Children’s Mental Health
Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
20 May 2021
Abstract
To develop wait time guidelines, case vignettes were designed corresponding to varying levels of clinical urgency based on an objective measure (Western Canada Waitlist Mental Health Priority Criteria). Experts provided maximum acceptable wait times (MAWT) for each vignette. Raters’ estimates of urgency aligned with the vignettes’ designed ranking. “Very high” and “high” clinical urgency cases were assigned a mean MAWT of approximately 2 weeks and a month, respectively. For “moderate” urgent cases, the mean MAWT was 3.5 months, with a MAWT over 4 months estimated for “low” urgency cases. These results may inform local children’s mental health service triage practices.
Résumé
Afin de développer des directives concernant les temps d’attente, des vignettes cliniques ont été conçues pour les différents niveaux d’urgence selon le Western Canada Waitlist Mental Health Priority Criteria. Des spécialistes ont identifié un temps d’attente maximal acceptable (MAWT) pour chaque vignette, concordant avec le classement objectif. Des MAWT de 2 semaines et de 1 mois ont été attribués aux cas de priorité clinique dits « très élevés » et « élevés », de 3,5 mois pour les cas « modérés » et de plus de 4 mois pour les cas « faibles ». Ces résultats pourraient aider les pratiques de triage des services locaux de santé mentale pour enfants.
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Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 40 • Number 1 • May 2021
Pages: 105 - 122
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Version of record online: 20 May 2021
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Julie A. Eichstedt, Devita Singh, Samantha Chen, Kerry A. Collins, and David Cawthorpe. 2021. Who Should Be Seen When? Establishing Wait Time Benchmarks for Children’s Mental Health. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.
40(1): 105-122. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2021-008
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