On Wednesday, September 25, members of the Emergency Psychiatry Task Force, a collaboration between WACEP and the Wisconsin Psychiatric Association, met with staff from Attorney General (AG) Josh Kaul’s office to discuss the issue of emergency detention and how it impacts physicians and patients. 

Attorney General Kaul is convening key stakeholders from across the state to discuss the issue of emergency and civil commitments, which will be the focus of the AG’s Annual Summit on October 31 at Union South in Madison. The summit will include representatives from the law enforcement, county administration and health care communities.

Emergency physician Michael Repplinger, MD, PhD and psychiatrists Tony Thrasher, DO, Molli Rolli, MD, John Schneider, MD, and Angela Janis, MD, provided the AG's office with best practices regarding how to best care for patients who arrive at the emergency department and need to be taken into custody for their safety and the safety of others.

The group shared a series of resources including the white paper scheduled to be published in WMJ, a SMART form for working with patients in crisis and one-pager detailing the focus areas of the Task Force. Conversation also covered processes for admitting patients, transporting patients to facilities, parity, access, workforce, medical stability and models from other states. All agreed that both pre- and post-admission processes need to be revamped.