Charleston, S.C.-based MUSC Health is opening the first pediatric EmPATH unit in the nation, it said in a March 24 news release.
The system is opening the pediatric EmPATH unit at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. The pediatric ED sees on average more than 100 kids per month who have behavioral health needs.
The system is also opening an EmPATH unit for adults at its MUSC University Hospital, in downtown Charleston, which sees about 300 patients per month in need of behavioral health care.
The EmPATH units are the latest in MUSC’s strategy. Later this year, it will open its MUSC Health Jean and Hugh K. Leatherman Behavioral Care Pavilion in Florence, S.C. It’s also testing the use of telehealth in school-based health services.
EmPATH — which stands for Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing — units function as a short-term way to assess, treat and stabilize patients.
