The Impact of C-SSRS: a Medical Care Evaluation Study
Hot off the press article by our own Dr. Omolewa, et al.
Original Publish Date: August 7, 2018
Background
The efficient utilization of resources depends upon effective prioritization of patients’ needs. The use of the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS, a questionnaire used for suicide screening and assessment) at the time of admission helps in the assessment processes to identify potential suicidal patients thereby informing the clinical judgment of professionals to implement right interventions. The provision of appropriate interventions to deserving patients has been observed to increase patient satisfaction that can ultimately reduce length of stay in acute settings. The screener version of Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale allows staff to appropriately measure suicidal risks that ranged from low, medium to high. The medium and high-risk levels require 1:1 observations to ensure safety. C-SSRS supports suicide risk assessment through a series of simple, plain-language questions that anyone trained in its administration can ask. Those answers help users identify whether someone is at suicidal risk to further assess the severity and imminence of that risk, then gauge the level of support individuals need.
Worldwide, nearly 1 million people die by suicide each year — equal to one life lost every 40 seconds. Suicide is the No. 1 killer of adolescent girls and the second-leading cause of death among people ages 15–29 (Lighthouse, 2016). A population-based cohort of 919 people with severe mental disorder from rural Ethiopia similarly indicated the prevalence of suicide risk (Shibre, Hanlon, Medhin, Alem, Kebede, Tefrra, kullgren et al. (2014). Studies suggested that several mental disorders independently increase the risk of suicide attempts and death by suicide after controlling for all mental disorders and demographic risk factors (Randall, Walld, Finlayson, Sareen, Martens, Bolton et al. (2014). A cross-sectional population-based study conducted between August 2010 and September 2012 on those labeled and unlabeled mentally ill indicated significantly higher frequencies of suicidal ideation and feelings of hopelessness (Oexle, Ajdacic-Gross, Kilian, Müller, Rodgers, Xu, Rössler, and Rüsch. (2017).
Research has proved that the C-SSRS can help identify people who are most at risk for dying by suicide and direct them to the help they need. Its effectiveness and ease of use make the scale a vital tool for suicide prevention. John George Psychiatric Hospital (JGPH) adopted this evidence-based tool to increase provision of quality of care and prevent self-harm.
