mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””> Every year more than 32 000 people die by suicide in the

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>United
States

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/suicide/suicidedatasheet.pdf

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””> Rates of presentation to ’emergency
departments’ for suicide-related reasons increased almost 50% from 1992-2001
and show no sign of declining.(3) These figures reflect Emergency Medicine’s
increasing burden of responsibility and care for suicidal patients.

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>The
closure of psychiatric inpatient facilities, reductions in inpatient beds,
transition to outpatient treatment and increased costs of general practitioner
visits have coincided with, and likely contributed to, increased attendances to
EDs by psychiatric and suicidal patients who would previously have been
admitted or seen in primary care. The ED is now the default option for urgent
and acute contact for suicidal patients. The need to have ED based brief
screening, early identification, intervention, facilitated referral, safety planning,
and motivational enhancement to seek additional care are part of a multimodal
approach to prevent suicide and suicide-related behaviors. Multiple emergency
medicine investigators have developed different yet successful suicide
screening and intervention initiatives. (4-8) Given the crowded ED environment,
challenges remain regarding the ideal methodology for improved suicide
screening and intervention. Support, research, and ultimately implementation of
the most successful and efficient ED based suicide prevention programs are
needed to address this important public health problem.

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/17/eveningnews/main6688347.shtml

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””>

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none””> http://www.healthypeople.gov/hp2020/Objectives/ViewObjective.aspx?Id=234&TopicArea=Mental+Health+and+Mental+Disorders&Objective=MHMD+HP2020–1&TopicAreaId=34