Veterans in crisis: Identifying and reducing suicide

The base of this Integrative Review is built on the foundation of information from research by Ramchand (2021), “Veterans are committing suicide at a rate twice the non-veteran.” (p.2) and “From 2005 to 2018 the suicide rate went from 20% to 32%” in the veteran population. (p.3). According to Ahmedani et al. (2019), “The majority of persons committing suicide (71.2%) had received health care in the 180 days prior to their death.” (p.6). This review analyzed and organized the findings to spotlight 4 common themes that lead to a better understanding of best practices. Eligibility criteria started with the PICOT question “In combat veterans, what role does untreated pain play in suicide rates?” The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses or PRISMA flow diagram was used to narrow the PubMed search results. The literature review focused directly on combat wounded veterans. The research links Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain as a comorbidity that increases suicide risk. According to Chisholm-Burns et. al., (2019), “substantial evidence that pharmacists can make an impact through appropriate pain management.” (p.2) The goal of this review is to identify and reduce suicide in the veteran population.