Year: 2019 Source: The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. (2019). 64(6), 400-404. DOI: 10.1177/0706743718821341 SIEC No: 20190563

The case vignette illustrates that “new standards” for the assessment and management of suicidal patients are expected to affect clinical practice in the next year or two. These standards will influence the delivery of care in psychiatric inpatient and outpatient services, emergency departments, and primary care settings and will directly affect psychiatrists, emergency physicians, family practitioners, and other mental health professionals. This analysis introduces the rationale and the nature of the new practices, as well as the controversy related to the new approaches, and recommends that Canadian psychiatric practice needs to be in the forefront of adopting new standards for caring for
suicidal patients.