First-year follow-up of the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PAM) in Stockholm County, Sweden: A descriptive study

Abstract

In the spring of 2015 a project named PAM (Psykiatrisk akut mobilitet, i.e., Psychiatric Emergency Response Team) started in Stockholm, Sweden. The main purpose of PAM is to respond to emergency calls regarding persons in severe mental health or behavioral distress, with focus towards patients with acute risk of suicidal behavior. In Sweden these emergency cases are traditionally handled by the police, though suggestions have been made to involve trained health professionals, thus improving the quality of care provided, as well as minimizing stigmatization of patients with psychiatric problems. The PAM vehicle is staffed with two specialized psychiatry nurses and a paramedic, who often collaborate with police, ambulance and rescue services. This article is an evaluation of the first year of the project. Our objective was to quantify certain parameters regarding patients, response time and cooperation with other departments. Data were collected from medical records, the police department, the emergency call center and from a logbook kept by the PAM personnel. During the first year, PAM was requested 1,580 times, and had 1,254 cases attended to which is an average of 4.3 requests and 3.4 cases per day. 1,036 individuals of all ages were attended to, and 96 of them had contact more than once. One third of all attended cases resulted in no further action after a psychiatric assessment and sometimes crisis intervention had been made on site.