National Implementation of Emergency Department-Based Follow-up Program for Suicidal Attempts

BACKGROUND: Death by suicide is a major public health problem. To provide multidisciplinary support to patients who attempted suicide, emergency department (ED)-based psychiatric screening and intervention programs were offered. We traced the long-term survival outcome of patients visiting the ED after suicide attempts using the national death certificate registration database. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted using a database of patients from “Psychiatric Crisis Response Centers” (PCRC) of 27 EDs between January 2013 and August 2015. Patients who visited the ED after attempting suicide were screened and interviewed by social workers from the PCRC. The database was merged with the national death certificate database to trace the death and cause of death of the patients until December 2018. The characteristics and outcomes were compared based on the patient’s compliance with the follow-up case management program. RESULTS: Of the 12,544 interviewed patients, the data of 9,587 patients were successfully matched with data from the death certificate database. Death by suicide was higher in the noncompliance group (4.5% vs. 12.4%, P < 0.001); however, death caused by factors other than suicide did not differ between groups (4.8% vs. 4.9%, P = 0.906). CONCLUSION: Suicide resulted in a lower long-term mortality rate among patients who complied with the follow-up case management session in the ED-based brief psychiatric intervention and follow-up program.