Mental Health Service Delivery and Suicide Risk: the Role of Individual Patient and Facility Factors

This study examines the relationship of 481 deaths by suicide to patient-level socio-demographic, clinical, & mental health service delivery characteristics, as well as to facility-level measures of service delivery by gathering data from a prospective mortality study of psychiatric inpatients from various hospitals throughout the United States. Several variations were associated with higher risk for suicide risk, including length of stay less than 14 days, poorer continuity of care, & lack of readmission within 6 months. (32 refs)