Ohio is one of 11 states with a critical shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds, according to the Journal-News.
The state has just 18 percent of the inpatient beds required to treat the state's population with severe mental illness, a spokesperson of the Treatment Advocacy Center told the Journal-News. What is more, there is a shortage of psychiatrists: Out of 4,000 designated mental health professional shortage areas, 125 are located in Ohio, according to data in the report.
The shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds and psychiatrists is a nationwide problem. The nation had 558,000 psychiatric beds in 1955 and in 2010 this number fell to 43,300, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center. There are roughly 49,000 psychiatrists across the country, but they are the second oldest group of physicians, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
"The iceberg is bigger than we even know," Marcus Romanello, MD, CMO of Fort Hamilton (Ohio) Hospital told the Journal-News. "As each hospital looks to serve their community; they should consider mental health as a priority."
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