Implementation of a tablet-based suicide screening tool in an emergency department

In adolescents and young adults, suicide is the second leading cause of death [2]. Identifying adolescents with suicidal ideation offers the potential to provide necessary resources and prevent suicide before an attempt is made. Universal screening for suicide in the emergency department (ED) has been shown to be feasible and has found a twofold increase in risk detection [5], but can be difficulty in already busy EDs. A quick, verbally administered, 4 –5 question screen, the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ), was developed and validated for pediatric EDs to identify youth at risk of suicide, [6] but adolescents may be hesitant to confide such personal information verbally.
Source: The American Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: research