• Jonathan Brill, Galia Zacay, Gil Raviv, Judith Tsamir, and Anthony D Heymann.
• Department of Family Medicine, Meuhedet Health Maintenance Organization, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• Fam Pract. 2023 Dec 22; 40 (5-6): 776781776-781.

BackgroundSuicide prevention is an important public health concern, and primary care physicians (PCPs) often serve as the first point of contact for individuals at risk. Few interventions in the primary care setting have been linked to reduced suicide attempt (SA) rates. The Continuity of Care (COC) protocol was developed to improve the primary care treatment of high-risk suicidal patients.ObjectivesThis study examined PCPs' awareness of the COC protocol, its perceived effectiveness, and PCPs' attitudes towards post-SA-discharge visits.MethodsA survey was administered to 64 PCPs who had a recent office visit with a patient who had attempted suicide. Data were collected between May and July 2021 and analyzed anonymously.ResultsThirty of the 64 PCPs answered the questionnaires, giving a response rate of 47%. Most were unaware of the COC protocol. Seventeen physicians (57%) felt that the visit strengthened their physician-patient relationship, and while nearly half of the physicians (47%, n = 14) agreed they had the knowledge and tools to manage a post-SA-discharge visit, 43% of them (n = 13) preferred that the visit would have been handled by a mental health professional rather than a PCP. Analysis of open-ended questions uncovered three themes: knowledge gap, system limitation, and the PCP's role in maintaining the COC.ConclusionThe findings of this study highlighted the important role PCPs can play to prevent future SAs, as well as exposed gaps in the knowledge and system constraints that impede them from carrying out this role as effectively as possible.© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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