Safe Care Transitions in a Zero Suicide Framework
In a Zero Suicide approach, safe suicide care in health and behavioral health organizations involves establishing guidelines and protocols that create smooth and uninterrupted care transitions across and within care settings. It is equally important to address suicide risk at every visit within an organization, from one behavioral health clinician to another or between primary care and behavioral health staff in integrated care settings. Some examples of innovative approaches to providing safe care transitions include establishing practices that remove barriers to scheduling follow-up appointments, creating agreements between acute care settings and outpatient providers to deliver care to discharged patients within 24 hours, using supportive contacts, involving peer support, and utilizing crisis services to provide care coordination and follow-up. During this webinar, presenters will help participants think of ways they can improve safe care transitions through their organizational policies using a variety of tools and resources.
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to (1) Identify key care transition practices and partnerships for patients discharged from inpatient to outpatient care, (2) describe how one organization includes voices of individuals with lived experience in care transition practices, and (3) demonstrate how health and behavioral health organizations can establish partnerships with crisis service organizations to augment care transition practices.