Recorded presentation

Cynthia A Claassen, PhD¹, Gregory Luke Larkin, MD MS MSPH², Carlos Arturo Camargo, MD, DrPH³, Michael H. Allen, MD⁴, and Madhukar Trivedi, MD¹. (1) Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9119, 214-648-0164, cindy.claassen@utsouthwestern.edu, (2) Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Clinical Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, CS 2.122, Dallas, TX 75390-8579, (3) Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Clinics Building 397, Boston, MA 02114, (4) Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, 4455 E. 12th Ave, Campus Mail Box A011-95, Denver, CO 80220

Traditional public health approaches to injury prevention linking health-event surveillance data to epidemiologic analysis and intervention efforts afford a strong framework from which to build suicide prevention programs. Unfortunately, underreporting of attempted and completed suicide is a world-wide problem, resulting in morbidity and mortality statistics that do not adequately reflect the scope or magnitude of the burden associated with self-harm behavior. Surveillance-related factors contributing to this underreporting include variations in injury classification and analysis and deficits in systematic, coordinated data collection, management and reporting.

Presented by representatives from some existing national surveillance networks, this portion of this Special Session on Suicide Surveillance will describe intentional self-harm behavior as manifested in Emergency Departments in the United States. Recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) and the Poison Control Network will be reviewed, and each system's approach to data collection will be described. Recent initiatives by the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry (AAEP) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to improve the quality of data collection will also be reviewed. Several general questions about suicide surveillance will be discussed, including specific ways in which data elements should be defined, assessed and documented, along with optimal Emergency Department-based collection procedures and responsibilities. Finally, suggestions for structuring a comprehensive suicide surveillance system will be reviewed and short-, intermediate- and long-term goals and aims for a comprehensive suicide surveillance system will be proposed.

Learning Objectives: Objectives

• Attendees will be able to describe the scope and magnitude of suicide emergencies across US emergency departments.
• Attendees will be able to understand the potential role of research-oriented surveillance networks in identifying, treating and / or averting suicidal behavior.
• Attendees will be able to describe examples of successful research collaborations between emergency mental health and emergency medical services that can be used to design and implement novel strategies for identification and treatment of emergent suicidality.

Keywords: Suicide, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation