Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie
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In this study, the repeat utilization of child psychiatric emergency services was examined. There are patients who use psychiatric emergency services repeatedly, and these patients represent a significant proportion of child psychiatric emergencies seen in emergency rooms. ⋯ They were significantly more likely than the one-time patients to be less compliant with outpatient follow-up, admitted to hospital more often, needed more social support and had greater difficulty remaining in a residential treatment setting. Intervention in the emergency room did not appear to change the way they used emergency services.