Preventing suicide after psychiatric hospitalization

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(OAKBROOK TERRACE, Illinois, September 22, 2022) – Suicide after psychiatric hospitalization is a major concern, particularly within rural populations. The World Health Organization Brief Intervention and Contact (BIC) Program is an evidence-based practice shown in international trials to prevent suicide after psychiatric discharge. However, BIC has not yet been implemented in the United States. 

A new study, published during National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the October 2022 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety (JQPS), “Spreading a Strategy to Prevent Suicide After Psychiatric Hospitalization: Results of a Quality Improvement Spread Initiative,” provided programmatic support to implement BIC locally to six U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers serving large rural populations with low to moderate performance on a VA quality measure of mental health postdischarge care. The measure assesses the proportion of discharged patients who complete a required number of visits. 

Researchers evaluated the overall effectiveness of BIC in the areas of treatment engagement and program satisfaction, and as measured by the VA quality measure. Results showed teams had high participation rates in programmatic activities and enrolled 85% of eligible patients. Among 70 enrolled patients, 97% received mental health follow-up within 30 days of discharge and 81.4% achieved the VA quality measure of mental health postdischarge care. Additionally, on average, patients rated BIC as excellent and team members agreed that BIC was easy to use, implementable, and achievable. 

“The authors are to be commended for addressing the problem of postdischarge suicide risk in the VA, particularly for those veterans in rural areas who may have limited access to mental healthcare, as determined by a standardized measure of rurality and a VA quality measure of mental health postdischarge care,” notes an accompanying editorial by Gregory K. Brown, PhD, and Barbara Stanley, PhD. 

Also featured in the October issue:

• Measuring the Effectiveness of Choosing Wisely Campaign on Laboratory Testing for Hospitalized Patients (Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia)
• Ten Years Since the Choosing Wisely Campaign: Are We Ordering Laboratory Tests More Wisely in Our Hospitalized Patients? (editorial)
• Predictive Ability of the Braden QD Scale for Hospital-acquired Venous Thromboembolism in Hospitalized Children (Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California)
• A Longitudinal Study of a Multifaceted Intervention to Reduce Newborn Falls While Preserving Rooming-In on a Mother-Baby Unit (Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Lebanon, New Hampshire) 
• Frequency of Device-Related Interruptions Using a Scalable Assessment Tool (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston)
• Preferences and Perceptions of Medical Error Disclosure Among Marginalized Populations: A Narrative Review (University of California, San Francisco)
• The Use of Clinical Data Registries to Improve Care and Meet Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation Requirements (commentary)
• Inaccurate Penicillin Allergy Labeling, the Electronic Health Record, and Adverse Outcomes of Care (commentary)

For more information, visit JQPS website. 

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Note For Editors  

The article is “Spreading a Strategy to Prevent Suicide After Psychiatric Hospitalization: Results of a Quality Improvement Spread Initiative,” by Natalie B. Riblet, MD, MPH; Manuel Varela, BSIE; William Ashby, MS; Lisa Zubkoff, PhD; Brian Shiner, MD, MPH; Jacqueline Pogue, MPH; Susan P. Stevens, PsyD; Danuta Wasserman, MD, PhD; and Bradley V. Watts, MD, MPH. The article appears in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, volume 48, number 10 (October 2022), published by Elsevier.  

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety  

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety (JQPS) is a peer-reviewed journal providing healthcare professionals with innovative thinking, strategies and practices in improving quality and safety in healthcare. JQPS is the official journal of The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources, Inc. Original case studies, program or project reports, reports of new methodologies or the new application of methodologies, research studies, and commentaries on issues and practices are all considered.