Managing Suicide Risk In Primary Care

"Primary care is the new frontier for preventing suicide and Bryan and Rudd are its pioneers, offering wisdom and guidance based on their experience in bridging behavioral health care to the primary health care setting. This is a truly significant reference." Lanny Berman, PhD, ABPP Executive Director, American Association of Suicidology President, International Association for Suicide Prevention "In their pragmatic and useful book titled Managing Suicide Risk in Primary Care, Bryan and Rudd provide an essential reference guide for health care professionals working in primary care settings."--PsycCRITIQUES "This book offers a comprehensive approach that can help the physician become competent to assess and intervene with suicidal risk as well as lessen his or her anxiety when dealing with patients at suicide risk. Needless to say, this can be a life and death matter for some patients... One of the great strengths of this book is how they have adapted insights and interventions from traditional mental health care for the uniqueness of primary care... I highly recommend this book for any professional working in primary care. It will be taken off the shelf for reference and reviewed many times in the course of a career."--Family Medicine Journal Roughly forty-five percent of individuals who commit suicide make contact with a primary medical provider in the month prior to their death; nearly twenty percent make contact within one day of their death. This practical guide demonstrates how the primary care setting-an increasingly important provider of mental health treatment-can be an effective place for preventing suicide and providing ameliorative care. Firmly grounded in the clinical realities of primary care, Bryan and Rudd address the key issues that often plague behavioral health consultants (BHCs) in such settings where appointments are brief, patient contact is limited, and decision making and treatment are collaborative. They offer effective strategies for BHCs to manage patients across a suicidal crisis beginning with the development of procedures prior to crisis, steps to take during a crisis, planning for post-crisis care, transition to specialty mental health facilities, and legal issues. Key Features: Targets techniques for suicide assessment and prevention in primary care settings Addresses the clinical realities of working in a primary care setting and how to adapt them to the needs of suicidal patients Covers clinical protocols, legal issues, and risk management Discusses the formation of collaborative relationships with patients and staff Provides brief interventions with suicidal patients and post-crisis strategies Written by leading specialists in behavioral health, primary care, and suicidology

A comprehensive guide to this emerging field, fully updated to cover clinical, policy, and practical issues with a user-centred approach.

A concise review of current research into suicide providing a guide to understanding this disease and its increasing incidence globally.

Suicide prevention initiatives are part of much broader systems connected to activities such as the diagnosis of mental illness, the recognition of clinical risk, improving access to care, and coordinating with a broad range of outside agencies and entities around both prevention and public health efforts. Yet suicide is also an intensely personal issue that continues to be surrounded by stigma. On September 11-12, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, DC, to discuss preventing suicide among people with serious mental illness. The workshop was designed to illustrate and discuss what is known, what is currently being done, and what needs to be done to identify and reduce suicide risk. Improving Care to Prevent Suicide Among People with Serious Mental Illness summarizes presentations and discussions of the workshop.

Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.

This highly practical book explains how to identify and manage suicidal individuals and supports the health professional in assisting the patient to choose life rather than death. Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals provides health professionals with the tools to recognize, assess, and manage the suicidal or potentially suicidal patient and presents important information regarding the epidemiology, risk factors and associated aspects of suicide. The book presents two unique assessment tools – TASR and SRAG – created for use in the authors’ own practice. Refined through actual experience, these proven tools help assess and evaluate patients with confidence. The Tool for Assessment of Suicide Risk (TASR) provides instruction on how to use it appropriately in the clinic, while the Suicide Risk Assessment Guide (SRAG) acts as a self-study program to assess clinical evaluation skills, without running the risk of mishandling a suicidal patient. Throughout Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals, bulleted lists, tables and flowcharts effectively describe how to use the many factors to assess the risk of suicide in an individual patient. A summary card at the back of the book also provides an 'at a glance' guide to the assessment process.

A practical and easy-to-use guide for healthcare professionals on the prevention, assessment and treatment of people at risk of suicide.

Patient suicide is an unavoidable occupational hazard of psychiatric practice. Indeed, it is the rare clinician who does not struggle, even agonize, over the complex task of assessing and managing the risk of suicide in patients. Patient suicides account for the greatest number of malpractice suits filed against psychiatrists and for the greatest number of settlements and verdicts covered by professional liability insurers. In this book, written by a clinician for clinicians, Dr. Simon, an established expert in psychiatry and law, offers A solid, easy-to-understand review of how medical malpractice law applies to patient suicides. He discusses the standards of care physicians must meet, the conditions associated with malpractice liability, and how best to minimize risks of litigation. Extensive references to peer-reviewed literature on suicide and recent malpractice cases, including those triggered by patient suicides, which give insight into the latest developments in both the scientific community and the courts. Much-needed practical advice, including advice on working with suicide risk assessments and suicide prevention contracts, on treating suicidal patients in various settings (outpatient, inpatient, collaborative, and emergency), and on coping with issues arising in the aftermath of a patient's suicide (documentation, confidentiality, and survivor care). Clearly defined risk management guidelines that will help clinicians avoid litigation or establish a sound legal defense if sued for malpractice. Numerous case examples that make the theoretical discussions and clinically based risk management guidelines that follow come alive. Rich in advice that draws on the author's more than 40 years of clinical experience, this book serves as an essential aid to clinicians.

This highly practical book explains how to identify and manage suicidal individuals and supports the health professional in assisting the patient to choose life rather than death.

The aim of the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline series is to improve patient care. Guidelines provide a comprehensive synthesis of all available information relevant to the clinical topic. Practice guidelines can be vehicles for educating psychiatrists, other medical and mental health professionals, and the general public about appropriate and inappropriate treatments. The series also will identify those areas in which critical information is lacking and in which research could be expected to improve clinical decisions. The Practice Guidelines are also designed to help those charged with overseeing the utilization and reimbursement of psychiatric services to develop more scientifically based and clinically sensitive criteria.