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Abstract
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Excerpt
THE JOINT COMMISSION (TJC) sentinel event alert calls for all accredited hospitals to screen patients—even those with no mental health diagnosis—for risk of self-harm and suicide to prevent suicides on medical-surgical units and in EDs. Its 2016 sentinel event summary, which includes data through 2015, shows that despite hospital efforts, suicides increased from the fourth most frequently reviewed sentinel event to the third.1 The good news is that TJC's updated quarterly reports show measurable improvements through the second quarter of 2017.2 However, because TJC data are voluntarily self-reported, the number of actual events is almost certainly higher.
Although a previous suicide attempt is considered the best predictor of a completed suicide, many patients who commit suicide in an inpatient hospital setting don't have a psychiatric history or a history of suicide attempts.3,4 This article describes who's at risk and steps clinical nurses on nonpsychiatric units can take to keep their patients safe.
Language: en |