Q& A: Suicide Risk Assessment, Part 2
Emergency Management Alert, September 4, 2007
The Joint Commission's inclusion of suicide-risk assessment as a National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) and its subsequent enactment of suicide prevention as a program-specific tracer has prompted questions from those in emergency care who wonder how the NPSGs apply to the ED. Here is the second of a three-part series featuring questions from ED staff.
Q: What should our policy be for patients in the ED who have attempted suicide, but are ambulatory?
A: Most emergency departments have the potentially suicidal patient monitored on a one-to-one basis, whether by nursing staff, ER tech, or security staff. Others have patients assigned to rooms that are in direct line of sight of the nursing station. Still others designate a specifically designed "safe room" where psychiatric patients can be kept safe until their situation de-escalates or until they can be transferred to a psychiatric facility.
Source: Suicide Risk Assessment: Practical Strategies and Tools for Joint Commission Compliance, by Lauren R. Ball, MSW, LCSW, BCD.
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