Improving Hospital Safety via Prompt Behavioral Emergency Care
Speaker
Scott Zeller, MD
Scott Zeller is Vice President for Psychiatry at the multispecialty multistate partnership of 6,000 physicians Vituity, Inc; Assistant Professor at University of California-Riverside School of Medicine; Past President of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry; and Past Chair of the National Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies. He has authored multiple textbooks, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles, has lectured in-person on every continent on Earth except Antarctica, and is known as the co-inventor of On-Demand Emergency Telepsychiatry, and the creator of the EmPATH Unit (Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing Unit) model for behavioral health emergency care. He led Project BETA (Best Practices in the Evaluation and Treatment of Agitation), which produced guidelines that have revolutionized the care approach to agitated individuals around the world, by changing the focus from coercive containment to compassionate de-escalation. He was awarded the 2015 USA Doctor of the Year by the National Council for Behavioral Health, the 2019 California Hospital Association Heerman Award for making a landmark contribution to improving California healthcare, and in 2024was recipient of the University of California-Riverside Healthcare Innovation Award. This year he received the 2026 Center for Healthcare Design "Changemaker" Award, the highest honor given at the 10,000-attendee"International Planning, Design and Construction Summit" for healthcare facilities in Houston, TX.
Description
Behavioral emergency conditions can present significant risks for workplace violence in hospitals, emergency departments, and other clinical settings. Healthcare organizations are moving beyond traditional, outdated responses that relied on security intervention, physical restraints, and sedation. Presently, many are adopting innovative, patient-centered approaches that have been shown to create safer care environments, reduce assaults and staff injuries, improve clinical outcomes, and enhance the patient experience.
Drawing on more than 40 years of experience in emergency psychiatry and the treatment of over 90,000 behavioral emergency patients, Scott Zeller has helped shape internationally recognized management guidelines and pioneering care models that are becoming best practices worldwide. This session will explore the recognition and diagnosis of behavioral emergencies, common triggers and risk factors, evidence-based de-escalation strategies, and modern interventions that can be implemented across a wide range of healthcare settings.
Webinar Outline: Improving Hospital Safety via Prompt Behavioral Emergency Care
Learning Objectives
At the end of the webinar, the participant should be able to:
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- Describe what constitutes a behavioral emergency, and what risks of workplace violence accompany behavioral emergencies
- Discuss the results of major, published, peer-reviewed research on behavioral emergency care and related workplace violence data
- Evaluate areas where implicit bias can influenceworkplace violence.
Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider number 12205 for 1 contact hour.
This meeting has been submitted for approval for 1 contact hour of Continuing Education Credit toward fulfillment of the requirements of ASHRM designations of FASHRM (Fellow) and DFASHRM (Distinguished Fellow) and towards CPHRM renewal.