azpa carefree conference 2015 - everything i knew about suicide was wrong
TRANSCRIPT
BH Version 3.0:
The New
Operating
SystemDavid w. Covington, lpc, mba
Ceo & President, RI International, Inc.
0
Not a Healthcare Issue?
Prominent suicidologists, argued successfully, albeit erroneously, that this is not a healthcare issue. They kept suicide out of the mental health Bible, the DSM, stating, “suicide is, by definition, not a disease, but a death that is caused by a self-inflicted intentional action or behavior.”
Is Suicide Really A Choice?A Vivid Memory
Pupils Dilate & Eyelids Widen
Is Suicide Really A Choice?
Depression is a disorder of mood, so mysteriously painful and elusive in the way it becomes known to the self — to
the mediating intellect– as to verge close to being beyond description. It thus remains nearly incomprehensible to
those who have not experienced it in its extreme mode.
- William Styron
What I Didn’t Do…
I finally succumbed when all my strength was fully, completely gone…
Suicide Can Be Prevented.
A. Never in Those Truly Intent on SuicideB. Sometimes, but Only in Advance of Acute
RiskC. Always, but Only in Advance of Acute Risk
D. Always, Even Up to the Last Moment
How Long Could You Endure the Ice Water…
Disease Transmission R Nought
Measles Airborne 12 – 18
HIV/AIDS Sexual
Contact
2 - 5
SARS Airborne
Droplet
2 – 5
Influenza Airborne
Droplet
2 – 3
Ebola Bodily
Fluids
1.5 – 2.5
me too
Many, many
more suicides
can be
prevented, but
it will require…
Healthcare systems
must work together
and within
communities
Utilize a systems
approach to
quality
improvement
Develop clinical
pathways for direct
care
Forbes
Magazine
2010, “The
Forgotten
Patient” –
Those at risk
of suicide
are pressed
to the
periphery
of
healthcare.
© Koren Shadmi
Suicides are
being
averted
every day
around the
world… but
the effort is
generally
individual…
not systematic.
Kevin Briggs, Guardian of the Golden Gate
Bridge
That’s also
true in
healthcare
(many lives
are saved)…
but like the
Golden Gate
Bridge, far too many are lost.
Greater suicide death risk relative to general
population
The impact of patient suicide deaths upon the healthcare
workforce is significant.
It is time…
for
healthcare
leaders to
aim for the
bull’s eye
on the
challenge
of suicide
This means
targeting
zero… which
systems do
every day
around the
world for other
complex
challenges.
None of our patients should die desperate and alone by
suicide.
Suicide
Resu
lts
Tom Insel, NIMH
Adopt the mindset.
Change the world. Zero is the only goal
we can live with.
Zero Suicide in Healthcare Atlanta Summit 2015
zerosuicide.comzerosuicide.orgThe Social Movement The Healthcare Toolkit