Telehealth Suicide Assessment and The Emergency Order of Detention (EOD) Process: A Systematic Review

Background: Emergency orders of detention (EOD) are used to hold potential suicidal individuals against their will. The COVID-19 pandemic altered the way these evaluations are conducted as virtual telehealth conferences became more frequently utilized. The purpose of this review is to identify screening practices of telehealth providers, describe assessment discrepancies used in telehealth versus in-person visits, and identify variance in EOD hospital admission rates. Methods: A systematic review of literature was conducted utilizing the PRISMA model. Five electronic databases were searched for articles related to suicide, EOD, and telehealth spanning from 2001 to 2021. Of the eight (n=8) articles returned by the search, three (n=3) met inclusion criteria. Results: Findings of this review reveal that there is virtually no research on standardized suicide screening tools used to make EOD determinations. Additionally, the research does not comment on discrepancies between suicide evaluations via telehealth or in-person. Research on telehealth evaluation and involuntary hospitalization rates is limited. Discussion: Little is described in the current research about the types of assessment tools used in the EOD process when conducted via telehealth. Overall, this review found that protecting citizens by telehealth EOD is noticeably under-researched.