On this episode of Advances in Care, we return to the high-intensity environment of New York City’s emergency departments with Dr. Angela Mills and Dr. Brenna Farmer. Host Erin Welsh hears from these leaders at NewYork-Presbyterian about how they are implementing innovative strategies to meet the challenges of the behavioral health emergencies epidemic.

Dr. Brenna Farmer, chief of emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist, and Dr. Angela Mills, chief of emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia, bring us inside the emergency departments they lead to explain the challenges that their staff face in meeting the needs of severely decompensated patients. From disruptions in the flow of care, to potentially violent outbursts, their teams navigate these issues against the backdrop of an already complex operational environment.

Dr. Farmer tells us how she has implemented an innovative protocol called BERT– the Behavioral Health Response Team– in the Brooklyn Methodist Emergency Department, which is rolling out across the NewYork-Presbyterian system. BERT allows ED teams to better address  behavioral health patients, leading to more robust support for staff, and quicker, more comprehensive patient care overall, including connecting them to much needed outpatient resources. Finally, Dr. Farmer and Dr. Mills share additional strategies they employ to support their own well-being– and that of their medical teams– as they face difficult cases, plus their personal reasons for working in this unique field.

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Dr. Angela M. Mills is a nationally recognized leader and expert in emergency medicine. She serves as the inaugural chair of the newly designated Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and chief of Emergency Medicine Services at NewYork-Presbyterian. 

Dr. Brenna M. Farmer is Chief of Emergency Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and vice chair for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is also an assistant associate professor of clinical emergency medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Farmer is a nationally recognized medical toxicology expert and frequent keynote speaker on quality improvement, patient safety, and medication safety.

For more information visit nyp.org/Advances.