Education Students Posters Resources Engage Destination Supporters #BeThe1To

Registration Options

Activity Date: 04/07/2019

AAPP 2019 registration is closed.

Session Time and Location

The live session is complete.

Target Audience

This course is designed for pharmacists, nurse practitioners or other health care professionals involved in the comprehensive medication management of psychiatric and/or neurological patients.

Session Summary

Over 800,000 people die by suicide world-wide every year and suicide was the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds in the U.S. in 2016. Up to 90% of people who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental health or substance use disorder at time of death and will often come into contact with health professionals, including pharmacists, during their time of suicide risk. In fact, approximately 19% of people who die by suicide had contact with a mental health professional in the month prior to their death (Luoma, Martin & Pearson, 2002). Unfortunately, many health professionals including pharmacists have not received adequate suicide prevention training. For psychiatric pharmacists who work with this vulnerable population, suicide prevention education is more important than ever.

Suicide is a complex, multifaceted, biological, sociological, psychological, and societal problem with little training for prevention. As a major international health problem, it is estimated that suicide will contribute more than 2% to the global burden of disease by 2020. According to recently released data from the CDC, suicide rates are up over 30% in reporting states since 1999, and there were nearly 45,000 lives lost to suicide in 2016. While persons who die by suicide often have varying clinical presentations and needs, psychiatric clinical pharmacists have the opportunity to provide effective interventions for suicidality by addressing mental health and mitigating risk factors such as substance abuse. 

In this pre-meeting workshop, participants will learn hands-on suicide risk assessment and prevention techniques, including helpful risk mitigation strategies and appropriate documentation. Advanced clinical situations will be presented, and participants will prepare an appropriate treatment plan for a patient who is having suicidal ideation by utilizing suicide assessment risk scales and accurately assessing a patient’s suicide risk level. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss challenges they see in their own practice settings with regard to suicide risk assessment and prevention, and they will receive updates on evidence-based, suicide-specific practices to help prevent suicide.

Recommended Pre-Reading/Viewing

  1. World Health Organization Suicide Prevention Community Toolkit
  2. Empathy Video
  3. Patient Video: David
  4. Patient Video: Laura 1
  5. Patient Video: Laura 2

Course Requirements

To receive ACPE credit for the live session at the Annual Meeting, you must:

  • Sign in (or create a FREE account).
  • Register for this course.
  • Attend and participate in the entire session and reflect upon its teachings.
  • Complete the evaluation at the end of the activity.
  • Provide the necessary details in your profile to ensure correct reporting by AAPP to CPE Monitor.

This course will be provided at the CPNP 2019 Annual Meeting, April 7-10, 2019. Upon successful completion, ACPE credit is reported immediately to CPE Monitor although transcripts can be retrieved by participants online at https://aapp.org/mycpnp/transcript/acpe.

Faculty Information and Disclosures

Rosana Oliveira, PharmD, BCPS BCPP
Brandy Singer, PharmD, BCPP

View biographical information and disclosures

Learning Objectives

  1. Discuss the epidemiology of suicide. 
  2. Identify patient warning signs and risk and protective factors.
  3. Employ interviewing strategies for assessing the risk of patients with suicidal ideation and behaviors.
  4. Utilize commonly used suicide risk assessment tools and rating scales used in various patient care settings.
  5. Assess and document suicide risk for a patient taking into account static risk, dynamic risk, protective factors, and risk level.
  6. Evaluate patients and prepare an appropriate treatment plan. 
  7. Understand the resources available for reducing suicide risk.

Continuing Education Credit and Disclosures

Activity Date: 04/07/2019
ACPE Contact Hours: 3
ACPE Number: 0284-0000-19-010-L04-P (Application)
Nursing Credit Reminder: Note that ACPE credit is accepted for certification renewal.

ACPEThe College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This course provides 3.0 contact hours of application-based continuing education credit from CPNP approved programming.

View AAPP's Privacy Policy

AAPP owns the copyright, is licensed or has received permissions for use of, or is otherwise permitted to use copyrighted materials within any CPE activity. Authors and speakers are required to obtain necessary copyright permissions for content in CPE activities. AAPP complies with copyright laws and regulations.

Questions? Contact AAPP.