Additional Resources for Suicide Prevention

Routine Screenings and Assessment in Primary Care:

• Step 1: Establish a training plan to support all staff in adopting suicide safe communication strategies.
• Step 2: Identify comprehensive screening tools like the PHQ-9 and C-SSRS.
• Step 3: Establish a policy to screen all patients over the age of 12 using a standardized screening tool.
• Step 4: Establish protocol for responding to positive depression screens and/or answers of “yes” to question 9 on the PHQ-9.
• Step 5: If possible, update your organization’s EHR to reflect steps outlined in the “Help from your EHR” listings.
• Step 6: Train staff on the protocol for administering the screening and documenting patient responses in the patient record.

Care Management and Referral Process:

• Step 1: Review the education materials at Now Matters Now during visits with patients who are at risk of suicide.
• Step 2: Train staff and providers on helping at-risk patients make a safety plan.
• Step 3: Develop organizational policies that clearly state what clinicians and care teams can do to counsel patients on lethal means, including the protocol to follow in the event a patient brings a weapon or other lethal means to the clinical setting.
• Step 4: Monitor to ensure that care transitions are documented and flagged for action in an electronic health record.
• Step 5: Develop internal written policies and procedures, contracts, and memoranda of understanding with outside organizations, including local crisis centers, for safe care transitions.

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Routine Screenings and Assessment in Primary Care:
Action Steps, Training, & Resources

Step 1: Establish a training plan to support all staff in adopting suicide safe communication strategies.

Step 2: Identify comprehensive screening tools like the PHQ-9 and C-SSRS.

Step 2: Identify comprehensive screening tools like the PHQ-9 and C-SSRS.

Step 3: Establish a policy to screen all patients over the age of 12 using a standardized screening tool.

Step 4: Establish protocol for responding to positive depression screens and/or answers of “yes” to question 9 on the PHQ-9.

Step 5: If possible, update your organization’s EHR to reflect steps outlined in the “Help from your EHR” listings.

Step 6: Train staff on the protocol for administering the screening and documenting patient responses in the patient record.

Care Management and Referral Process:
Action Steps, Training, & Resources

Step 1: Review the education materials at Now Matters Now
during visits with patients who are at risk of suicide.

Step 2: Train staff and providers on helping
at-risk patients make a safety plan.

Step 3: Develop organizational policies that clearly state what clinicians and care teams can do to counsel patients on lethal means, including the protocol to follow in the event a patient brings a weapon or other lethal means to the clinical setting.

Step 4: Monitor to ensure that care transitions are documented and flagged for action in an electronic health record.

Step 5: Develop internal written policies and procedures, contracts, and memoranda of understanding with outside organizations, including local crisis centers, for safe care transitions.