What does this research mean for the field?

The Psychiatric Extended Care (PEC) model significantly reduces Emergency Department length of stay for select mental health patients without altering total length of stay or causing adverse safety events. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate whether the Psychiatric Extended Care (PEC) PEC-C pathway, which transfers select voluntary mental health patients to a short-stay unit before psychiatric review, reduces emergency department and total length of stay.

September 8, 2026Australasian Psychiatry

Audit of the psychiatric extended care model’s impact on emergency department length of stay

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Authors

AAAdil Ali Mubarak Ali PKPawan Koirala CGCherrie Galletly

Discussion

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Overview

Retrospective audit reveals reduced emergency department wait times without changes in total stay duration, suggesting improved hospital bed flow.

Key Points

To evaluate whether the Psychiatric Extended Care (PEC) PEC-C pathway, which transfers select voluntary mental health patients to a short-stay unit before psychiatric review, reduces emergency department and total length of stay.
Retrospective audit conducted at Lyell McEwin Hospital comparing 'pre-PEC' (January–April 2022) and 'post-PEC' (January–April 2024) cohorts.
Included voluntary adult emergency department patients presenting for mental health reasons who met specific safety and medical screening criteria (PEC-C criteria).
Primary outcomes assessed were emergency department length of stay (ED LOS) and total length of stay (combined ED and Mental Health Short Stay Unit LOS).
Eligible patients comprised 28 of 686 (4.1%) psychiatric referrals pre-PEC and 29 of 679 (4.3%) post-PEC.
ED LOS significantly decreased from a median of 18.2 hours (IQR: 13.4–22.9) pre-PEC to 9.4 hours (IQR: 6.3–12.5) post-PEC (Mann-Whitney U = 102.5, p < .001).
Total LOS did not differ significantly between groups (69.4 hours [IQR: 7.3–131.5] vs 64.9 hours [IQR: 38.6–91.2], U = 406, p = 1.00), with zero adverse safety events reported.

Cite This Study

Ali et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9fd74958e84d0ff5b45c83 https://doi.org/10.1177/10398562261481761

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September 8, 2026Australasian Psychiatry

Audit of the psychiatric extended care model’s impact on emergency department length of stay

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

AAAdil Ali Mubarak Ali PKPawan Koirala CGCherrie Galletly

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Retrospective audit reveals reduced emergency department wait times without changes in total stay duration, suggesting improved hospital bed flow.

Key Points

To evaluate whether the Psychiatric Extended Care (PEC) PEC-C pathway, which transfers select voluntary mental health patients to a short-stay unit before psychiatric review, reduces emergency department and total length of stay.
Retrospective audit conducted at Lyell McEwin Hospital comparing 'pre-PEC' (January–April 2022) and 'post-PEC' (January–April 2024) cohorts.
Included voluntary adult emergency department patients presenting for mental health reasons who met specific safety and medical screening criteria (PEC-C criteria).
Primary outcomes assessed were emergency department length of stay (ED LOS) and total length of stay (combined ED and Mental Health Short Stay Unit LOS).
Eligible patients comprised 28 of 686 (4.1%) psychiatric referrals pre-PEC and 29 of 679 (4.3%) post-PEC.
ED LOS significantly decreased from a median of 18.2 hours (IQR: 13.4–22.9) pre-PEC to 9.4 hours (IQR: 6.3–12.5) post-PEC (Mann-Whitney U = 102.5, p < .001).
Total LOS did not differ significantly between groups (69.4 hours [IQR: 7.3–131.5] vs 64.9 hours [IQR: 38.6–91.2], U = 406, p = 1.00), with zero adverse safety events reported.

Cite This Study

Ali et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9fd74958e84d0ff5b45c83 https://doi.org/10.1177/10398562261481761

Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 3 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

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