Association of Suicide and Other Mortality With Emergency Department Presentation

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Abstract
Each year in the United States, more than 500 000 people present to emergency departments (EDs) with deliberate self-harm, and many more people present with suicidal ideation.1 Because self-harm and suicidal ideation are associated with increased risk of death by suicide,2 EDs offer potentially important settings in which to deliver frontline suicide prevention services and to help ensure patient safety by coordinating transfers or referrals to the appropriate level of continuing care. Practice guidelines for management of deliberate self-harm recommend clinical assessment of ongoing risk of self-harm and suicide.3,4 Although effective ED-based interventions for patients at high risk of suicide have been developed, they are not yet widely used in community practice.5,6

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