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- Suicide: e-facts for August 27th
Suicide: e-facts for August 27th
Emergency Department Visits: A Missed Opportunity for Suicide Prevention?
Emergency department (ED) visits by patients presenting with mental health concerns may represent a missed opportunity to detect those at high risk for suicide.
A small study (n=286) found that up to 43% of individuals who committed suicide attended the ED at least once in the year before their death and 28% of these attended the ED on more than 3 occasions before suicide completion. These "frequent attenders" died by suicide significantly sooner after their final, nonfatal attendance to the ED than their counterparts who presented to the ED less frequently.
The authors stated: "All people who attend the ED following self-harm should receive psychosocial assessment at triage and a more detailed assessment if required, but this study and several others show this is not happening,"
Emerg Med J. Published online July 26, 2010.
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