A baker act is a FL law that is put in place by mental health providers, law enforcement or doctors when a person has suicidal or homicidal ideations with a plan or intent to harm himself/herself or others. Any individual under baker act must be transported immediately to a psychiatric or crisis unit facility to stabilize their mental health; this is an involuntary process.
Many times when the baker act receiving facilities are at capacity the next receiving facility are the hospitals. The hospitals are responsible to only medically clear. The social worker then searches for an available baker facility.
Baker acts at the hospital have increase with COVID since some baker act receiving facilities are requiring COVID testing. This has become a misuse of resources since they all come in through the emergency department and are many times transported by law enforcement. At times the hospital (emergency room) is full with very ill patients and those patients are require to wait due to the ED not having enough beds. Additionally, law enforcement is untrained to deal with mental health individuals. Law enforcement often place individuals under baker act inappropriately. Medial social works or mental health providers go off the columbia-suicide severity rating scale (C-SSRS) to determine if a patient meets baker act criteria. Law enforcement often uses their judgment or 3rd party information to place a person under BA.
The role of the Medical social worker in this topic is to screen/assess the person’s mental health to determine if they meet BA criteria. The medical social worker is required to discuss and collaborate with the medical staff to determine what is best for the patient. The medical social work is also required to reach out to family members, send referrals to the baker act receiving facility and work for the person to be accepted in a timely manner to one of those facilities.
Therapeutic intervention:
- Crisis intervention
- Solution Focus