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Managing Suicide Risk
  Image of Vivian with a pen.

Before moving on, see if you learned the major concepts for this section on suicide assessment by answering a few questions about a hypothetical patient.

He is an older male who lives alone since his wife has recently passed away. He has no other relatives living nearby. His BDI score was 21, and he answered 3 to question 9. When asked about suicide ideation, he indicated that he has thought many times of killing himself and has a gun at home that he keeps loaded and available.


Is this person at low or high risk for suicide?

A) low

B) high

Which of the following are reasons why he is at high risk for suicide?

A) He is an older male who lives alone.

B) He has undergone a recent traumatic event, is isolated, and is depressed.

C) He has a plan, means, and opportunity.

D) all of the above

What is your next step for treating this patient?

A) Leave the room to call 911 immediately.

B) Use the phone in the room to give an agreed-upon code to the staff indicating an emergency suicide threat that requires immediate psychiatric referral.

  
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