Visits to an emergency department by children and adolescents with substance-related disorders and the perceptions of nursing professionals

The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of visits to the emergency department (ED) by children and adolescents with substance-related disorders, between 2009 and 2011, to compare them to adults and to analyze how the nursing team perceived the health care for this population. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on qualitative and quantitative data collected in a Brazilian ED. The quantitative data were obtained from records of a hospital's information system, and the qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nursing professionals from the ED. During the period analyzed, 7.3% of visits to the ED by patients with substance-related disorders corresponded to children or adolescents. Summarily, we found that, from the participants' perspectives, the nursing care provided in the ED to patients with substance-related disorders was strongly framed on the primary role of this setting (i.e., to stabilize acute symptoms and provide security for patients); however the particularities related to the development stages were not emphasized by the participants. Improving clinical knowledge and understanding the emotional dimension of emergency psychiatric care could enhance the capacity of the nursing teams working in this context. Issues related to structure and the politics that framed teaching and assessing mental health are important considerations to further improve the assistance given to patients with substance-related disorders, especially children and adolescents.