Evaluation of a suicidal ideation screening program in an emergency-department setting
Date
2021
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States with an average of 47,000 deaths per year. Forty nine percent of individuals who commit suicide have visited an Emergency Department 52 weeks prior to the suicide. Universal suicidal ideation screening in the ED may be an effective intervention to identify those at risk of suicide so that interventions may be implemented to reduce mortality and morbidity. The aim of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a suicidal ideation screening program in an ED using the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (CSSRS). The Framework for Evaluation in Public Health developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was used to guide the program evaluation. The analysis included examining the number of patients identified with suicidal ideation in a 3-month period before implementation of the CSSRS and a 3-month period after implementation. There was a 560% increase in the identification of patients with suicidal ideation in the emergency department after CSSRS was implemented as a universal screening tool. This program evaluation shows that implementation of the CSSRS in the ED can increase the identification of individuals with suicidal ideation. Replication of these results through implementation of the screening tool is recommended to verify effectiveness in similar settings and improve identification of individuals with suicidal ideation.
Description
Keywords
Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, Suicide, Suicide screening