The Champlain Regional Mental Health patient flow process and procedure was developed to ensure access to care for mental health patients across the region by enabling a rapid transfer for acute emergent needs and the ability to recover in the most appropriate hospital setting. CHEO is the designated schedule 1 hospital in the region supporting community hospitals in the management of pediatric mental health acute, high risk patients.
To request a psychiatric emergency assessment:
The attending Emergency Department physician will need to:
- Ensure the patient meets the criteria for a Form 1, requiring involuntary status and a psychiatric assessment (see Table 2). Please review both the inclusion and exclusion notes.
- Complete the referral package that includes:
- CHEO referral and billing information
- Regional Medical Clearance and Repatriation Form
- Send your patient's completed COVID-19 screening form, in accordance with our Public Health Agency and organizational infection prevention and control requirements. Have this form ready for discussion with the CHEO on-call psychiatrist.
- Include your EDR clinical notes on the patient, including a Form 1 if there is one
- Call the Main Switchboard at 613-737-7600, extension 0 and ask for the on-call psychiatrist
- The on-call psychiatrist will review the patient status and determine next steps, including completing a virtual assessment of the patient when appropriate while they are still in the community hospital.
Completing the virtual assessment
A time for the virtual assessment will be agreed upon by your hospital's Emergency Department physician and CHEO's on-call psychiatrist.
To complete the booking, you will need to provide CHEO with an email address the patient can use for the duration of the appointment. You will need to find out if the patient or their caregiver has a smartphone, tablet. Ideally, the patient's or parent's own device and email address should be used. Read our tip sheet for more information on preparing for a virtual mental health emergency assessment.
An email will be sent to the email address being used by the patient, with a link to the virtual assessment using Zoom.
Please note: CHEO accepts patient assessments and transfers between 8:00am and 10:00pm.
Resources and documents
- Champlain Regional Mental Health Patient Flow Process
- CHEO virtual Psychiatric Emergency Assessment referral package
- Preparing for a virtual Psychiatric Emergency Assessment - tip sheet