Managing Suicide Risk In Primary Care

"Primary care is the new frontier for preventing suicide and Bryan and Rudd are its pioneers, offering wisdom and guidance based on their experience in bridging behavioral health care to the primary health care setting. This is a truly significant reference." Lanny Berman, PhD, ABPP Executive Director, American Association of Suicidology President, International Association for Suicide Prevention "In their pragmatic and useful book titled Managing Suicide Risk in Primary Care, Bryan and Rudd provide an essential reference guide for health care professionals working in primary care settings."--PsycCRITIQUES "This book offers a comprehensive approach that can help the physician become competent to assess and intervene with suicidal risk as well as lessen his or her anxiety when dealing with patients at suicide risk. Needless to say, this can be a life and death matter for some patients... One of the great strengths of this book is how they have adapted insights and interventions from traditional mental health care for the uniqueness of primary care... I highly recommend this book for any professional working in primary care. It will be taken off the shelf for reference and reviewed many times in the course of a career."--Family Medicine Journal Roughly forty-five percent of individuals who commit suicide make contact with a primary medical provider in the month prior to their death; nearly twenty percent make contact within one day of their death. This practical guide demonstrates how the primary care setting-an increasingly important provider of mental health treatment-can be an effective place for preventing suicide and providing ameliorative care. Firmly grounded in the clinical realities of primary care, Bryan and Rudd address the key issues that often plague behavioral health consultants (BHCs) in such settings where appointments are brief, patient contact is limited, and decision making and treatment are collaborative. They offer effective strategies for BHCs to manage patients across a suicidal crisis beginning with the development of procedures prior to crisis, steps to take during a crisis, planning for post-crisis care, transition to specialty mental health facilities, and legal issues. Key Features: Targets techniques for suicide assessment and prevention in primary care settings Addresses the clinical realities of working in a primary care setting and how to adapt them to the needs of suicidal patients Covers clinical protocols, legal issues, and risk management Discusses the formation of collaborative relationships with patients and staff Provides brief interventions with suicidal patients and post-crisis strategies Written by leading specialists in behavioral health, primary care, and suicidology

v. 1. Research findings -- v. 2. Concepts and methodology -- v. 3. Implementation issues -- v. 4. Programs, tools and products.

This highly practical book explains how to identify and manage suicidal individuals and supports the health professional in assisting the patient to choose life rather than death. Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals provides health professionals with the tools to recognize, assess, and manage the suicidal or potentially suicidal patient and presents important information regarding the epidemiology, risk factors and associated aspects of suicide. The book presents two unique assessment tools – TASR and SRAG – created for use in the authors’ own practice. Refined through actual experience, these proven tools help assess and evaluate patients with confidence. The Tool for Assessment of Suicide Risk (TASR) provides instruction on how to use it appropriately in the clinic, while the Suicide Risk Assessment Guide (SRAG) acts as a self-study program to assess clinical evaluation skills, without running the risk of mishandling a suicidal patient. Throughout Suicide Risk Management: A Manual for Health Professionals, bulleted lists, tables and flowcharts effectively describe how to use the many factors to assess the risk of suicide in an individual patient. A summary card at the back of the book also provides an 'at a glance' guide to the assessment process.

A concise review of current research into suicide providing a guide to understanding this disease and its increasing incidence globally.

A practical and easy-to-use guide for healthcare professionals on the prevention, assessment and treatment of people at risk of suicide.

This book offers mental health clinicians a comprehensive guide to assessing and managing suicide risk. Suicide has now come to be understood as a multidimensionally determined outcome, which stems from the complex interaction of biological, genetic, psychological, sociological and environmental factors. Based on recent evidence and an extensive literature review, the book provides straightforward, essential information that can easily be applied in a wide variety of disciplines.

This highly practical book explains how to identify and manage suicidal individuals and supports the health professional in assisting the patient to choose life rather than death.

A comprehensive guide to this emerging field, fully updated to cover clinical, policy, and practical issues with a user-centred approach.