Suicide is a growing crisis in the United States and worldwide. Nearly one million people die by suicide each year. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for all adolescents and young adults. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported many states across the country have seen between an 18-58% increases in suicide rates from 1999 to 2016. The state of Utah is among the states with the highest rate of suicide during that time period. Many of these patients utilize the Emergency Department (ED) as a first line of care. The most common contributing factors of suicidal attempts include, relationship problems, crisis in the past or upcoming two weeks, problematic substance abuse, physical health problems, job or financial problems. Many patients that suffer from a mental health diagnosis, such as depression or anxiety will also be seen in the ED due to a suicidal ideation (SI). The first step in preventing these acts is to properly identify those at risk for suicide, and providing proper referral. Since most of these individuals are presenting to the ED, it is of the upmost importance that these providers are properly equipped to identify these patients. The University of Columbia, in collaboration with other groups and accrediting bodies, constructed a universal screening tool called the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). This tool was built to serve in many heathcare settings and has shown to be very successful in identifying those at risk for suicide. The C-SSRS has particularly shown that it can be used as a universal screening tool in the ED aiding providers in properly identifying suicide risk levels.
