Crisis Preparedness in Acute and Intensive Treatment Settings: Lessons Learned From a Year of COVID-19

Abstract

The impact of COVID-19 changed the use and delivery of health care services, requiring an abrupt shift in treatment and staffing models ^1,2. This is particularly salient in youth acute and intensive treatment services (AITS), including inpatient psychiatric hospitals (IPH), intensive outpatient programs (IOP), and partial hospitalization programs (PHP), because of challenging issues of maintaining high-quality care and a safe therapeutic milieu during increased demand for acute services,³ all while limiting transmission of COVID-19 on locked units, in close quarters, and for youths traveling back and forth to day-programs. Over the past year, AITS adapted and evolved without the ability to pause services and plan, increase staffing, or allocate additional resources. This article discusses themes of changes made based on more than 20 facilities across the United States through the American Psychological Association Child and Adolescent Psychology Division's Acute, Intensive, and Residential Service Special Interest Group.⁴ These facilities include psychiatric inpatient units and day-treatment programs. We discuss lessons learned from these changes, the need for evaluating these changes, and application of these lessons in future crises.