Nursing 1100 (Fundamentals)

The Minnesota Department of Health's recommendations for suicide prevention in health care facilities.

The evidence showed that education interventions on inpatient suicide prevention had positive impact on health personnel’s knowledge, attitude and skills about inpatient suicide prevention in general hospitals. However, the best health personnel-targeted education intervention on inpatient suicide prevention in general hospitals was yet to be determined. In the future, it is necessary to combine evidence in this review and the actual condition in clinical practice.

Here, we review and summarize the properties of brief suicide risk–screening tools described in the literature and discuss the benefits of using these tools for universal screening in the general hospital setting, as well as the significant limitations in their use in the general hospital setting.

The estimated number of hospital inpatient suicides per year in the United States ranges from 48.5 to 64.9, which is far below the widely cited figure of 1,500 per year. Analysis of inpatient suicide methods suggests that hospital prevention efforts should be primarily focused on mitigating risks associated with hanging, and additional suicide prevention efforts may be best directed toward reducing the risk of suicide immediately following discharge.

The bulk of inpatient suicides actually occur not on the ward but off premises, when the patient was on leave or had absconded. Peaks occur shortly after admission and discharge. It is possible to reduce suicide risk on the ward by having a safe environment, optimizing patient visibility, supervising patients appropriately, careful assessment, awareness of and respect for suicide risk, good teamwork and communication, and adequate clinical treatment.

UTMB Health's procedures and policy for Suicide Prevention

In-patient (IP) suicides contribute a small but significant proportion of overall suicides. Despite this, suicide prevention strategies focusing on the general hospital IP population remain relatively underresearched. This paper is intended to provide an overview of various proposed suicide prevention approaches in the general hospital, including psychiatric IP, settings, and their evidence base.