Psychiatric services : a journal of the American Psychiatric Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial
An emergency department intervention for linking pediatric suicidal patients to follow-up mental health treatment.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents. Many suicidal youths treated in emergency departments do not receive follow-up treatment as advocated by the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Two strategies for improving rates of follow-up treatment were compared. ⋯ Results support efficacy of the enhanced emergency department intervention for improving linkage to outpatient mental health treatment but underscore the need for improved community outpatient treatment to prevent suicide, suicide attempts, and poor clinical and functioning outcomes for suicidal youths treated in emergency departments.