The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the latest provisional estimates for suicide deaths in the United States in 2022. According to their provisional estimates, published on August 10, 2023, suicide deaths increased approximately 5 percent in the United States in 2021 after declining in 2019 and 2020. The provisional estimates indicate that suicide deaths further increased in 2022, rising from 48,183 deaths in 2021 to an estimated 49,449 deaths in 2022, an increase of approximately 2.6 percent. However, two groups saw a decline in numbers, American Indian and Alaska Native people (down 6.1 percent) and people 10–24 years old (down 8.4 percent).
The previous week, the CDC announced seven new recipients in their Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Program (CSP). CSP funds 24 programs to implement and evaluate a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention, with a special focus on populations that are disproportionately affected by suicide. The CDC’s Suicide Prevention Resource for Action offers states and communities evidence-based strategies to prevent suicide.
The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline suggest 5 steps to help safeguard people from the risk of suicide and support them when in crisis:
- Ask: Asking and talking about suicide may in fact reduce rather than increase suicidal ideation.
- Help keep them safe: Reducing a suicidal person’s access to lethal means is an important part of suicide prevention.
- Be there: Increasing someone’s connectedness to others and limiting their isolation has shown to be a protective factor against suicide.
- Help them connect: Individuals that called the 988 Lifeline were significantly more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful by the end of calls.
- Follow up: After you’ve connected a person experiencing thoughts of suicide with the immediate support systems that they need, following-up with them to see how they’re doing can help increase their feelings of connectedness and support. There’s evidence that even a simple form of reaching out can potentially reduce that person’s risk for suicide.
Learn more about the five action steps for communicating with someone who may be suicidal here.
Access the CDC’s latest provisional estimates here.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Facility staff should be aware of warning signs for identifying suicide risk and suicide ideation. Staff should be trained to immediately report these warning signs to leaders of the facility. The leaders should be knowledgeable in what to do if a resident is thinking about committing suicide, and must take all reports seriously. Additionally, leaders should be knowledgeable in what to do if a resident does attempt suicide or if they succeed in their suicide attempt.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on suicide prevention. Update as needed.
- Train staff on identifying warning signs of suicide risk and suicide ideation. Additionally, train facility leadership on what to do if a resident is identified as considering suicide, and what to do if a resident attempts or succeeds at committing suicide. Document that the training occurred, and file the signed documents in each employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit staff understanding to ensure that they are knowledgeable in identifying warning signs of suicide ideation. Utilize the resources available to all Med-Net clients in the Suicide Prevention category of Med-Net Academy and to the overall public at the following link: Med-Net Suicide Prevention – (mednetconcepts.com). These include recorded programs, a suicide prevention poster, and a suicide response guide.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
