Changes in Psychiatric Emergency Room Visits Following the Boston Marathon Bombing. (19th April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Frank, Amber; Noy, Gaddy; Chow, Clifton; Leff, H. Stephen
• Is Part Of: Disaster medicine and public health preparedness. Volume 14:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: 178
• Page End: 182
• Publication Date: 2020-04-19
• Subjects: bombs, -- community mental health services, -- emergency services, -- psychiatric terrorism, -- psychological, -- stress; Disaster medicine -- Periodicals; Emergency management -- Planning -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 363.34
• DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2019.70
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1935-7893

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Objective: This study reviews patient encounters at a Boston-area community hospital Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) following the Boston Marathon bombings, with the goal of describing the impact of terrorist attacks on PES encounters. Methods: All PES encounters for 2 months preceding and 2 months following the bombing were identified in the electronic medical record. Demographics, current and past psychiatric problems, and trauma history were assessed for all records. Encounters seen post-bombing were compared with those before the bombing. Results: Demographics, current and past psychiatric problems, and trauma history were not significantly different before versus after the bombing; 36 of 440 (8.2%) post-bombing encounters directly mentioned the bombings. New-onset posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms caused by the bombing occurred in only 4 encounters (0.9%). Conclusions: PES encounters after a terrorist event are likely to mirror those seen before a terrorist event, with only a minority of encounters presenting for new PTSD or acute stress disorder.