Suicide Prevention
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) aims to strengthen CHOP’s youth suicide prevention efforts and increase patients’ access to mental health services. Suicide is consistently among the three leading causes of death among adolescents and young adults ages 10 to 24 years in the United States.
Working with multidisciplinary teams from across CHOP, our work improves our ability to identify and treat patients with mental health needs within the emergency department as well as inpatient, primary care, and specialty care settings.
Behavioral Health Screen
Since 2007, CHOP has utilized a behavioral health screen of patients ages 12 to 19 in the Emergency Department (ED) to aid in identifying and providing appropriate care to youth with mental health and social concerns. The behavioral health screen is a 10-minute, electronic survey that covers domains of depression, suicidality, emotional trauma, firearm access, and substance abuse. Following the screening, patients are connected with resources and consultations as appropriate.
Communicating and Connecting Mental Health Needs of Patients
Funded by a CHOP Department of Pediatrics Chair’s Initiative, this project was implemented in 2020 and seeks to improve CHOP patients’ access to mental health services by identifying and addressing care coordination needs for mental health referrals. A multidisciplinary team of CHOP experts, including representatives from CVP, developed consensus recommendations on appropriate practices for mental health referrals focusing on primary care sites. Using quality improvement methods, the team implemented tests of change in July 2020, including dedicated Social Work care coordination, enhancements in the electronic health record, and education for providers. The Social Work care coordination model continues in the pilot sites, and over 2000 patients have received help with connecting to mental health services.
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