Suicide Prevention Programming: Comparing Four Prominent Frameworks.

OBJECTIVE: Suicide is a significant public health concern. About 48,000 individuals died by suicide in 2021 in the United States, and approximately one in 100 deaths globally are due to suicide. Continuing efforts in program development and evaluation are vital to preventing suicide. Multiple frameworks have been developed to reduce suicide rates, but they have not been compared to assess their comprehensiveness, nor have their components been classified. METHODS: In 2019, the authors conducted a narrative review of the literature and identified four major frameworks for suicide prevention: the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Suicide Prevention Program, the Defense Suicide Prevention Program of the U.S. Department of Defense, Zero Suicide in Health and Behavioral Health Care, and the technical package developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Program components for these frameworks were identified and classified by using two prevention strategy classification systems: the National Academy of Medicine's (NAM's) continuum-of-care model and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) prevention model. RESULTS: The cross-program comparison revealed that no single program included all components of suicide prevention programs. However, the VA program was the most comprehensive in terms of the number of components and their spread across prevention strategy classifications. The programs used few components categorized under NAM's promotion or selective prevention strategy classifications. The SAMHSA prevention strategy classifications of information dissemination, community-based processes, and positive alternatives were also used infrequently. CONCLUSIONS: Organizations, health care systems, and policy makers may use these findings as they develop, improve, and implement suicide prevention programs.

A pilot of a veteran suicide prevention learning collaborative among community organizations: Initial results and outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: Veteran suicide remains an ongoing public health concern in need of fresh, community-based initiatives. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has built an enterprise-wide integrated behavioral health system that has pioneered numerous suicide prevention methods. However, most Veterans receive healthcare outside the VA, from organizations that may not be equipped to address Veteran suicide risk. One solution is implementing a VA/community suicide prevention learning collaborative to support organizations in implementing suicide prevention best practices for Veterans. Although learning collaboratives have a history of supporting improved patient safety in healthcare systems, to our knowledge, none have focused on Veteran suicide prevention. METHOD: The current quality improvement project sought to pilot a VA/community suicide prevention learning collaborative in the broader Denver and Colorado Springs areas with 13 organizations that served, interacted with, or employed Veterans. RESULTS: The collaborative had a large footprint in the region, with organizations interacting with over 24,000 community members and over 5000 Veterans. Organizations implemented 92 Veteran suicide prevention program components within a 16-month period. Overall, the learning collaborative made significant strides in Veteran suicide prevention. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that this method facilitates rapid implementation of Veteran suicide prevention practices and may be promising for accelerating uptake within communities.

The impact of diabetes mellitus in mortality of patients with compensated liver cirrhosis-a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that DM may reduce survival of patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). Nevertheless only few prospective studies assessing the impact of DM on mortality of cirrhotic patients have been published, none in compensated LC. AIMS: (i) to study the impact of DM on mortality and (ii) to identify predictors of death. METHODS: Patients with compensated LC with and without DM were studied. Survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier Method. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed to determine independent predictors of mortality. RESULTS: 110 patients were included: 60 without DM and 50 with DM. Diabetic patients had significantly higher frequency of cryptogenic cirrhosis, anemia, hypoalbuminemia, and hypercreatininemia. They also had significantly higher BMI and Child-Pugh score. The 2.5-years cumulative survival was significantly lower in patients with DM (48 vs. 69%, p < 0.05). By univariate analysis: DM, female gender, serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL, Child-Pugh score class C and cryptogenic cirrhosis were significant. However, only serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL and Child-Pugh score class C were independent predictors of death. CONCLUSION: DM was associated with a significant increase in mortality in patients with compensated liver cirrhosis. Serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dL and Child-Pugh score class C were independent predictors of death.

The Veterans Affairs Patient Safety Center of Inquiry-Suicide Prevention Collaborative: Creating Novel Approaches to Suicide Prevention Among Veterans Receiving Community Services.

BACKGROUND: While the US Department of Veterans Affairs has made significant strides to prevent veteran suicide, efforts have largely targeted veterans actively engaged in and eligible for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) care, which is consistent with the VHA mission. The majority of veterans are not enrolled in VHA care, and many are ineligible for services. Veterans not connected to VHA have experienced an increase in suicides in recent years. OBSERVATIONS: Since 2018, VHA National Center for Patient Safety has funded the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry-Suicide Prevention Collaborative (PSCI-SPC), which has worked to develop, implement, and evaluate practical solutions aimed at curbing the rising suicide rate among veterans not receiving VHA care. PSCI-SPC has 3 guiding objectives: (1) Develop and test a collaborative, organizational structure to connect VHA and community organizations, such as national, local, public, private, nonprofit, and academic partners who provide high-quality and timely health care; (2) Build and test a learning collaborative to facilitate sharing of VHA suicide prevention best practices with community partners to increase availability, consistency, and quality of mental health services for all veterans; and (3) Implement, test, and refine a novel program to provide affordable suicide prevention interventions to veterans with mental health needs, regardless of their use of, or eligibility for, VHA services. This paper details the current progress for this demonstration project. As these objectives are met, PSCI-SPC will create and disseminate products to support broad implementation of these practices to other VA medical centers and the communities they are embedded in. CONCLUSIONS: PSCI-SPC seeks to fill an important gap in veteran health care by serving as a national clinical innovation and dissemination center for best practices in suicide prevention for veterans who receive care in their communities.

Welfare Checks and Therapeutic Risk Management.

In clinical practice, welfare checks have become a fairly common aspect of suicide prevention. At the same time, the medical literature provides almost no guidance to inform clinicians under what circumstances welfare checks should be requested, how best to go about placing those requests, or how to document decision-making related to this important subject. Literature searches spanning both PubMed and Google Scholar failed to yield any applicable results. Performed correctly, welfare checks have the potential to be life-saving interventions for persons in suicidal crises. Performed incorrectly, welfare checks may become an overly defensive practice that damages therapeutic relationships, violates patients' rights, and consumes important and limited community resources. The need for thoughtful guidance to assist clinicians in navigating these difficult clinical scenarios is long overdue. This column, the second in a 2-part series, offers an approach to welfare checks informed by the tenets of therapeutic risk management.

Welfare Checks for Suicide Risk Management: Risks and Benefits.

In clinical practice, welfare checks have become a fairly common aspect of suicide prevention. At the same time, there is almost no guidance in the medical literature to inform clinicians under what circumstances welfare checks should be requested, how best to go about placing those requests, or how to document decision-making around this important subject. Literature searches spanning both PubMed and Google Scholar fail to yield any applicable results. Performed correctly, welfare checks have the potential to be life-saving interventions for persons in suicidal crises. Performed incorrectly, the welfare check may become an overly defensive practice that damages therapeutic relationships, violates patients' rights, and consumes important and limited community resources. The need for thoughtful guidance to assist clinicians in navigating these difficult clinical scenarios is long overdue. This article, the first in a 2-part series, will describe welfare checks and explore their potential risks and benefits.

Preoperative protocol and morbimortality in cervical surgery with anterior approach / Protocolo pré-operatório e morbimortalidade em cirurgia cervical com abordagem anterior / Protocolo preoperatorio y morbimortalidad en cirugía cervical con abordaje anterior

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the correlation between morbidity/mortality and the pre-surgical protocol in patients undergoing anterior cervical surgical approach. Methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study, in which 114 patients who underwent anterior cervical surgical approach were reviewed, divided into two groups: "Group A" Conventional Presurgical Protocol (CPP) and "Group B" Extended Presurgical Protocol (EPP). Statistical analysis used the IBM SPSS Statistics Base v.24 software. Results: We evaluated 114 patients, 35 from "Group A", 79 from "Group B", 83 (72.8%) with cervical myelopathy, 30 (26.3%) with cervicobrachialgia. "Group A" had 10 cases of respiratory failure, with 5 secondary to bronchial secretion, 2 secondary to cervical hematoma. "Group B" had 12 cases of respiratory failure, 3 secondary to bronchial secretion and 1 secondary to cervical hematoma. Conclusions: The extended presurgical protocol can be the answer to reduce complications by improving selection parameters of the candidate patient for a surgical procedure of the cervical spine. Level of Evidence III; Case-control studyg.

RESUMO Objetivo: Determinar a correlação entre morbidade e mortalidade e o protocolo pré-cirúrgico, em pacientes submetidos à cirurgia de coluna cervical anterior. Método: Estudo retrospectivo, transversal e descritivo, em 114 pacientes com cirurgia cervical anterior, dois grupos foram montados: "Grupo A" pré-cirúrgico convencional (PPP) e "grupo B" protocolo pré-cirúrgico estendido (PPE), a análise v.24 SPSS Statistics Base. Resultados: 114 casos de pacientes, 35 "Grupo A", 79 "grupo B", 83 (72,8%) com a mielopatia cervical, 30 (26,3%) com cervicobraquialgia avaliada. No "Grupo A" forma relatados: 10 casos de insuficiência respiratória, 5 são secundárias a secreção brônquica, 2 são secundárias a hematoma cervical. No "Grupo B" foram relatados: 12 casos de aflição respiratória, 3 são secreção brônquica secundária e um secundário ao hematoma cervical. Conclusão: protocolo pré-cirúrgico estendido pode ser a resposta para reduzir as complicações, a partir do momento que se melhoram os parâmetros de seleção do paciente, que é candidato a um procedimento cirúrgico anterior da coluna cervical. Nível de evidência III, Estudo de caso controleg.

RESUMEN Objetivo: Determinar la correlación entre la morbimortalidad y el protocolo prequirúrgico en pacientes sometidos a cirugía de la columna cervical por vía anterior. Métodos: Estudio retrospectivo, transversal y descriptivo, en el cual se revisaron 114 pacientes con cirugía cervical anterior, divididos en dos grupos: "Grupo A", Protocolo Prequirúrgico Convencional (PPC) y "Grupo B" Protocolo Prequirúrgico Extendido (PPE). El análisis estadístico se hizo con el software IBM SPSS Statistics Base v.24. Resultados: Se evaluaron 114 casos de pacientes, 35 del "Grupo A", 79 del "Grupo B", 83 (72,8%) con mielopatía cervical, 30 (26,3%) con cervicobraquialgia. El "Grupo A" tuvo 10 casos de insuficiencia respiratoria, con 5 secundarios a secreción bronquial, 2 secundarios a hematoma cervical. El "Grupo B" tuvo 12 casos de insuficiencia respiratoria, 3 secundarios a secreción bronquial y 1 secundario a hematoma cervical. Conclusiones: El protocolo prequirúrgico extendido puede ser la respuesta para reducir las complicaciones mediante la mejoría de los parámetros de selección del paciente candidato a un procedimiento quirúrgico anterior de la columna cervical. Nivel de evidencia III; Estudio de caso controlg.

Measurement of social participation outcomes in rehabilitation of veterans with traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant concern in the veteran population, and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) has devoted substantial healthcare resources to the rehabilitation of veterans with TBI. Evaluating the outcomes of these rehabilitation activities requires measuring whether they meaningfully improve veterans' lives, especially with regard to community and vocational participation, which are strongly linked to perceived quality of life. In January 2010, the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Service convened an invitational conference focused on outcome measurement in rehabilitation with a specific focus on veterans' community and vocational participation. This article reports on the working group, addressing the issues of conceptualizing and operationalizing such participation outcome measures for veterans with TBI; we discuss conceptual models of participation, review participation subdomains and their instruments of measurement, and identify current research issues and needs. Two avenues are identified for advancing participation measurement in veterans with TBI. First, we describe suggestions to facilitate the immediate implementation of participation measurement into TBI clinical practice and rehabilitation (cont) research within the VA healthcare system. Second, we describe recommendations for future VA research funding initiatives specific to improving the measurement of participation in veterans with TBI.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and suicide attempt history among veterans receiving mental health services.

History of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been found to increase risk of suicidal behavior. The association between suicide attempt history among veterans with PTSD and/or TBI was explored. Cases (N = 81) and 2:1 matched controls (N = 160) were randomly selected from a Veterans Affairs Medical Center clinical database. PTSD history was associated with an increased risk for a suicide attempt (OR = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.5, 5.1). This increased risk was present for those with and without a history of TBI. Results support incorporating PTSD history when assessing suicide risk among veterans with and without TBI.