• Alan L Nager, Phung K Pham, Daniel N Grajower, and Jeffrey I Gold.
• From the *Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California; †Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine, Department of Pediatrics; and ‡Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles; §Departments of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2017 Jan 1; 33 (1): 5-9.

ObjectiveTo determine if a new, non-validated mental health screener can detect the prevalence of alcohol/drug abuse, traumatic exposure, and behavioral symptoms in adolescents and young adults seeking care in a pediatric emergency department (ED) for medical complaints.MethodsAn 11-item mental health screener (Emergency Department Distress Response Screener [ED-DRS] investigator developed) was created. Patients 12 years or older seen for medical complaints were assessed by physicians using the ED-DRS. Data were analyzed using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20, χ test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation.ResultsAmong 992 ED patients, mean age was 15.11 ± 2.10 years (46.2% boys; 53.8% girls). Approximately 77.9% were Hispanic/Latino. Symptomatic patients (S) answered "yes" to at least 1 ED-DRS item; asymptomatic patients answered "no" to all items. The S patients comprised 47.5% of the sample; asymptomatic patients comprised 52.5%. Among S patients, alcohol/drug abuse frequency was 14%. The traumatic exposure frequencies included: 33.5% physically or emotionally traumatized, 29.3% bullied, 21.2% physically abused, 8.1% touched inappropriately and 7.0% exposed to domestic violence. Behavioral symptom frequencies included: 33.8% depressed mood, 30.4% anxiety, 23.8% high energy behavior, 6.6% hallucinations, and 6.2% suicidal/homicidal ideation.ConclusionsAlthough patients present to the ED with medical complaints, they may be at risk for concomitant mental health problems potentially discoverable using the ED-DRS.

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