Systematic Review of Interventions to Reduce Suicide Risk in Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth.

Transgender youth experience high rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. This systematic review sought to examine interventions for suicide prevention in transgender children and adolescents. Literature related to suicide in the transgender population was systematically collected in accordance with PRISMA criteria. Searches identified studies with at least one suicide prevention method for participants ages 24 years or younger with gender identity and sex clearly defined. Primary outcomes include suicide-related thoughts and behaviors. A total of 1558 citations were identified with 17 articles meeting inclusion criteria. Interventions with potential effectiveness included a gender-affirming crisis hotline, medical care via interdisciplinary gender clinics, online media-based outreach, safety and connectedness in schools, and family system-based interventions. In the included studies, the overall quality of evidence was low and the risk of bias high. Further high-quality studies are needed.

The Role of Parental Capacity for Medical Decision-Making in Medical Ethics and the Care of Psychiatrically Ill Youth: Case Report.

Introduction: Parents/legal guardians are medical decision-makers for their minor children. Lack of parental capacity to appreciate the implications of the diagnosis and consequences of refusing recommended treatment may impede pediatric patients from receiving adequate medical care. Child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs) need to appreciate the ethical considerations relevant to overriding parental medical decision-making when faced with concerns for medical neglect. Methods: Two de-identified cases illustrate the challenges inherent in clinical and ethical decision-making reflected in concerns for parental capacity for medical decision-making. Key ethical principles are reviewed. Case 1: Treatment of an adolescent with an eating disorder ethically complex due to the legal guardian's inability to adhere with treatment recommendations leading to the patient's recurrent abrupt weight loss. Case 2: Questions of parental decisional capacity amid treatment of an adolescent with schizoaffective disorder raised due to parental mistrust of diagnosis, disagreement with treatment recommendations, and lack of appreciation of the medical severity of the situation with repeated discharges against medical advice and medication nonadherence. Discussion: Decisions to question parental capacity for medical decision-making when risk of imminent harm is low but concern for medical neglect exists are controversial. Systematic review of cases concerning for medical neglect benefits from the assessment of parental decisional capacity, review of ethical standards and principles. Conclusion: Recognition of the importance of parental decision-making capacity as relates to parental autonomy and medical neglect and understanding key ethical principles will enhance the CAP's capacity in medical decision-making when stakes are high and absolute recommendations are lacking.

Epidemiology Needs to Inform Suicide Prevention Strategies.

Dr. Brent's Master Clinician Review: Saving Holden Caulfield: Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents is a timely synthesis of evidence-based approaches to suicide reduction, including prevention strategies and programs, increased access to mental health care, changes in systems of care delivery, and means restriction.1 Although this review appears in what is predominantly a journal for clinicians working in their offices or on hospital units, it is notable that most of the approaches he describes operate at primary or secondary prevention levels. That is, they use population-level strategies to prevent the development of suicide risk (primary prevention), or devise programs to detect and treat individuals before they become dangerously symptomatic (secondary prevention).

Developmental Approaches to Faculty Development.

An academic career goes through developmental stages and faculty have different needs as they progress through these stages. Faculty development initiatives can target these developmental needs. Early career faculty develop their clinical and academic identities and benefit from orientation programs and mentorship. Mid-career faculty engage in role transitions, consolidating their careers, and focusing on productivity and generativity. They benefit from programs that provide new skills, including leadership skills. Advanced career faculty focus on professional-personal integration, contributing to a community, and changes in roles and power. They can benefit from mentorship, from peers locally and at a distance.

Emergency Department Telepsychiatry Service Model for a Rural Regional Health System: The First Steps.

BACKGROUND: Emergency departments (EDs) have recognized an increasing number of patients presenting with mental health (MH) concerns. This trend imposes greater demands upon EDs already operating at capacity. Many ED providers do not feel they are optimally prepared to provide the necessary MH care. One consideration in response to this dilemma is to use advanced telemedicine technology for psychiatric consultation. INTRODUCTION: We examined a rural- and community-based health system operating 21 EDs, none of which has direct access to psychiatric consultation. Dedicated beds to MH range from zero (in EDs with only 3 beds) to 6 (in an ED with 38 beds). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a needs assessment of this health system. This included a survey of emergency room providers with a 67% response rate and site visits to directly observe patient flow and communication with ED staff. A visioning workshop provided input from ED staff. Data were also obtained, which reflected ED admissions for the year 2015. RESULTS: The data provide a summary of provider concerns, a summary of MH presentations and diagnosis, and age groupings. The data also provide a time when most MH concerns present to the ED. DISCUSSION: Based upon these results, a proposed model for delivering comprehensive regional emergency telepsychiatry and behavioral health services is proposed. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency telepsychiatry services may be a tenable solution for addressing the shortage of psychiatric consultation to EDs in light of increasing demand for MH treatment in the ED.

Rethinking Lethality in Youth Suicide Attempts: First Suicide Attempt Outcomes in Youth Ages 10 to 24.

OBJECTIVE: Although suicide is the second most frequent cause of death in American youth, suicide research has heretofore been confined to convenience samples that represent neither psychiatric nor general populations and that fail to include individuals dying at their first attempts. These limitations were addressed by assembling a youth cohort followed from the first medically recorded attempt (index attempt [IA]). It was hypothesized this approach would more accurately represent the prevalence of completed suicide after an attempt and underscore lethality based on method. METHOD: This study draws from a previously reported retrospective-prospective all-age cohort identified through the Rochester Epidemiology Project. The original 1,490-subject sample included 813 Olmsted County youth 10 to 24 years old (n = 258 male, n = 555 female; 54.6% of total cohort) with IAs from January 1, 1986 through December 31, 2007 and followed until December 31, 2010. RESULTS: Twenty-nine of 813 subjects (3.6%) killed themselves during the study period, with 28 of 29 dying before their 25th birthday and 20 of 28 (71.4%) dying at their first attempt. Despite composing only 31.7% of the cohort (258 of 813), male subjects composed most suicides: 23 of 29 (79.3% of suicides; 8.9% of male subjects) versus 6 of 29 female subjects (20.7% of suicides; 1.1% of female subjects). Eighty-five percent of all IA deaths involved firearms. More than a third of youth-41.2%-lacked a psychiatric history prior to IA. CONCLUSION: These data show that more than half the IAs occurred in youth, with approximately three-fourths of completed youth suicides occurring at the IAs. In parsing cause of IA death in the all-age cohort, the contribution of firearms figured even more prominently in the subsample of youth (85.0%) than in those at least 25 years old (64.3%). The high IA lethality suggests that prevention efforts commencing after the IA are too late for most victims.

The importance of code status discussions in the psychiatric hospital: results of a single site survey of psychiatrists.

OBJECTIVES: Documentation of code status is a requirement with hospital admission, yet this discussion may present unique challenges with psychiatric inpatients. Currently, no standards exist on conducting these discussions with psychiatric inpatients. The authors surveyed psychiatry trainees and faculty regarding their perceptions and practice to gain further insight into the types of approaches used. METHODS: The authors conducted an IRB-approved, Web-based survey of psychiatry faculty and trainees using a 25-item questionnaire of demographics and opinions about code status among psychiatric inpatients. RESULTS: The response rate was 36.1 % (n = 30; 15 faculty and 15 trainees). Respondents felt that it was important to discuss code status with each admission. Faculty placed a higher emphasis on assessing patients with a recent suicide attempt (p = 0.024). CONCLUSION: Psychiatric faculty and trainees endorsed the importance of assessing code status with each admission. The authors suggest that educational programs are needed on strategies to conduct code status discussions properly and effectively in psychiatric populations.

Analog-based free testosterone test results linked to total testosterone concentrations, not free testosterone concentrations.

BACKGROUND: Analog-based free testosterone test results, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations, and total testosterone concentrations are somehow related. This study used new experiments to clarify these relationships. METHODS: An analog-based free testosterone immunoassay and a total testosterone immunoassay were applied to well-defined fractions of serum testosterone. First, they were applied to the 2 fractions (retentate and dialysate) of normal male serum obtained by equilibrium dialysis. Second, they were applied to covaried concentrations of SHBG and total testosterone. Third, they were applied to decreasing concentrations of SHBG and protein-bound testosterone, offset by increasing concentrations of protein-free testosterone, while total testosterone was held constant. RESULTS: The analog-based free testosterone assay and the total testosterone assay detected and reported serum testosterone test results from serum retentate, whereas neither assay detected the free testosterone in serum dialysate. Test results reported by the analog-based free testosterone assay followed varied concentrations of SHBG and total testosterone. When total testosterone was held constant, however, analog-based free testosterone test results did not follow varied concentrations of serum proteins or of free testosterone. CONCLUSION: An analog-based free testosterone immunoassay reported free testosterone test results that were related to total testosterone concentrations under varied experimental conditions. This alleged free testosterone assay did not detect serum free testosterone (the test results it reported were nonspecific) and should not be used for this purpose.