Evaluation of an Emergency Department Educational Campaign for Recognition of Suicidal Patients

Abstract

IntroductionTo evaluate the impact of a simple emergency department (ED)–based educational intervention designed to assist ED providers in detecting occult suicidal behavior in patients who present with complaints that are not related to behavioral health.MethodsStaff from 5 ED sites participated in the study. Four ED staff members were exposed to a poster and clinical guide for the recognition and management of suicidal patients. Staff members in 1 ED were not exposed to training material and served as a comparator group.ResultsAt baseline, only 36% of providers reported that they had sufficient training in how to assess level of suicide risk in patients. Greater than two thirds of providers agreed that additional training would be helpful in assessing the level of patient suicide risk. More than half of respondents who were exposed to the intervention (51.6%) endorsed increased knowledge of suicide risk during the study period, while 41% indicated that the intervention resulted in improved skills in managing suicidal patients.ConclusionThis brief, free intervention appeared to have a beneficial impact on providers' perceptions of how well suicidality was recognized and managed in the ED.

Knowledge, Self-Confidence and Attitudes towards Suicidal Patients at Emergency and Psychiatric Departments: A Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effects of an Educational Poster Campaign

“…Gatekeepers may play a pivotal role in the early identification, management and referral of suicidal patients [1,2,3,4]. They can be among the first to screen and intervene for suicide risk as they may be in close contact with suicidal individuals and therefore have the opportunity to interrupt an ongoing suicidal process [5,6].…”

“…They can be among the first to screen and intervene for suicide risk as they may be in close contact with suicidal individuals and therefore have the opportunity to interrupt an ongoing suicidal process [5,6]. Front-line health professionals, such as general practitioners, mental health professionals and emergency department staff, report that targeted education and training in suicide prevention would be helpful [3,7,8,9,10]. Furthermore, a broad range of both health and community professionals appear to benefit from education and training interventions [3,11,12,13,14].…”

“…Front-line health professionals, such as general practitioners, mental health professionals and emergency department staff, report that targeted education and training in suicide prevention would be helpful [3,7,8,9,10]. Furthermore, a broad range of both health and community professionals appear to benefit from education and training interventions [3,11,12,13,14]. In particular, such interventions may provide gatekeepers with better knowledge about suicide, promote more adaptive attitudes towards suicidal patients, and increase provider confidence in assessing and managing suicide risk [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22].…”

“…Currier et al [3]) suggested that an educational poster and accompanying evaluation triage guide may be a simple and cost-effective tool for emergency department staff in increasing provider awareness and improving provider perception of knowledge and skills regarding the identification and management of suicidality. However, the interpretation of the findings of this study is hampered by methodological shortcomings including the use of non-validated measurements and the inclusion of only one comparator site.…”

Can we predict agitation in patients with suicide attempts in the emergency department?

“…Furthermore, agitated patients are uncooperative or unable to give a relevant history, forcing clinicians to make decisions based on limited information 5 . Therefore, it is important to determine which of these patients will be agitated in EDs, as this will affect resistance to treatment, as well as safety of medical personnel.…”