Abstract
The purpose of this article is to show how one emergency department (ED) came up with strategies for management of the acutely ill psychiatric patient. A task force was formed that was named the Management of Acute pSychiatric Health (MASH). The MASH task force was convened by the ED clinical nurse specialist in response to staff dissatisfaction with the current management of the psychiatric patient. Members helped develop all goals, policies, and procedures and carry out the education of the staff by utilization of psychiatric mock codes.