Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)

By now, you have seen ā€œCITā€ on a number of the Psychiatric Emergency call types within CAD.  This team has been working with CRS in their catchment area since October 2021.  During this time, CIT has increased the number of clinicians available for response, thus increasing their coverage.  This time was also used to identify issues and take corrective action.  The result of this collaborative project is that we are now ready to have them respond county-wide to select call types and any other incidents where the on scene EMS clinicians believe they can be of assistance.  Attached you will find the procedure for EMS clinicians outlining various aspects of the program.  The procedure also includes how the on scene EMS clinician can request their services immediately, have CIT follow up with the patient after call completion, and how to document all of these activities.  You will also find attached, the ā€œMobile Crisis Servicesā€ document that outlines what the team is comprised of, what services they provide, and what services they cannot provide.

The emphasis of this program is to get the patient the correct resources the first time around.  Often times, this means that it is not in the patientā€™s best interest to be transported to a receiving facility.  The crisis team members can assess and develop a plan to assist the patient in lieu of transport.  Please review these documents with your BLS providers and begin to look for them on your incident scenes.

The EMS Operational Program will be monitoring the use of the system.   If you have feedback on the program, please forward it to me.

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