National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) (Ambulatory Health Care / Ambulatory Health Care)
Suicide Risk Reduction - Applicability in a Hospital's Emergency Department
Modify | April 11, 2016
What is the expectation for a patient brought to our general hospital Emergency Department for a psychiatric-related condition when the patient will most likely be transferred to a psychiatric facility?
The requirement under this safety goal is that a suicide risk assessment will be done in the receiving Emergency Department and appropriate precautions will be taken. There are several cases in The Joint Commission's sentinel event database of suicides in emergency departments while the patients were awaiting transfer.
Additional information regarding assessing suicide risk has been published in our Sentinel Event Alerts:
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