Suicide Prevention in Emergency Medicine Departments (U01)

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Purpose. Emergency medicine department (ED) practitioners are responsible for conducting appropriate identification, triage, risk assessment, and referral of high-risk suicidal individuals who present to the ED, yet no evidence-based standards exist for these practices.This is a growing public health concern due to the increasing number of individuals who are seeking care in EDs for suicidality.Moreover, when ED staff members provide referrals for outpatient follow-up care, it is estimated that 50 to 70% of suicidal at-risk individuals do not attend appointments.This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) solicits cooperative research project grant (U01) applications aimed at developing and testing the effectiveness of practical interventions that can form an evidence base for the improved care of suicidal individuals seen in EDs.Improvements in care can include patient screening, assessment, and interventions that form a chain of care to reduce suicide risk. To optimize the generalizability of improved ED care to reduce suicidality, applicants should develop interventions and approaches that can be tested across multiple general medical emergency department settings.The ultimate objective of this FOA is to help improve care in the ED, and care following ED presentation, in order to reduce suicidal behavior and associated morbidity over at least a 12 month period. Mechanisms of Support. This FOA will use the NIH Cooperative Agreement (U01) award mechanism. Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards. The NIMH has committed $3 million total costs for Fiscal Year 2009 to fund one application submitted in response to this FOA.

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