Using Frequent Inpatient Assessments of Suicidal Thinking to Predict Short-Term Post Discharge Suicidal Behavior

Course overview

This course is based upon material published in the JAMA Open Network and is available as an open-access article. Question: Can the prediction of suicide attempts after psychiatric hospitalization be improved using frequent assessments of the level and variability of an individuals suicidal thoughts? Findings: In this prognostic study of 83 adult psychiatric inpatients, prediction of posthospital suicide attempts was fair when using only baseline data, improved in a model using mean level of suicidal thinking during hospitalization, and improved further in a model including dynamic features of suicidal thoughts. Meaning: These findings suggest that data on real-time, dynamic changes in suicidal thoughts could improve the prediction of suicide attempts during the high-risk period following psychiatric hospitalization. This course on predicting short-term post-discharge suicidal behavior is designed for social workers, professional counselors, psychologists, nurses, and substance abuse counselors, who do clinical work. In addition, this course is appropriate for intermediate and advanced level practitioners who wish to enhance their assessment skills when working with clients with suicidal behavior. It is useful for licensed clinicians who require continuing clinical education courses for license renewal. The course is based on a journal article that includes research. It contains statistical analysis and data that some clinicians enjoy reading and others do not. A significant benefit of reading research-based articles for continuing education is they provide practitioners with the latest findings in their field. Authors: Wang Learning Objectives: This course will provide the practitioner with detailed information regarding using frequent inpatient assessments of suicidal thinking to predict short-term post-discharge suicidal behavior. Specifically, a professional will: Identify the features of the study. Identify the features of suicide risk among discharged patients. Describe the findings of the study. Citation: Wang, Coppersmith, Kleiman, Bentley, Millner, Fortgang, Mair, Dempsey, Huffman and Nock (2021), AMA Network Open. 2021;4(3):e210591. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0591 downloaded 4/16/2022