Improving the Quality of Suicide Risk Assessments in the Psychiatric Emergency Setting: Physician Documentation of Process Indicators

The quality of suicide risk assessments in the psychiatric emergency setting was evaluated by reviewing physician documentation of process indicators. Medical records of 145 patients involuntarily admitted were reviewed for 19 process indicators. Documentation that a process indicator was not met by a patient was included in the data. Patients were divided into 2 groups: those admitted to the inpatient psychiatric unit & those who were released. None of the suicide risk assessments documented all 19 process indicators. Results suggest the overall quality of psychiatric risk assessments was not optimal. The lack of documentation has important treatment & medicolegal implications. (17 refs.) JA