A new study led by a UMass Medical School researcher looks at evaluating the use of telehealth to improve suicide-related outcomes.

Telehealth to Improve Prevention of Suicide (TIPS) in emergency departments is a four-year National Institute of Mental Health effectiveness-implementation trial. TIPS focuses on interventions in rural or community hospitals.

Though the protocols can be used in any emergency care setting. Especially when there are no readily available mental health specialists.

UMMS suicide prevention study:

The principal investigator Edwin Boudreaux, PhD, professor of emergency medicine shared that this research is founded on the observation that most emergency departments don’t have requisite behavioral health clinicians to staff the department at all times.

So, patients in crisis have to wait hours to get evaluated. Sometimes they are medically evaluated and then transferred for mental health assessment to another facility.

Clinicians, mostly masters-level behavioral health specialists, may not be trained in best-practice suicide risk assessment, other new methods like personalized safety planning.

They might discharge the patient without evidence-based follow-up care.

With COVID-19 the use of telehealth increased rapidly.  Dr. Boudreaux said the best way to implement it still unknown. They are considering if people doing evaluations on the best practices to improve the quality of care delivered through telehealth can be trained. Also, if they can implement a follow-up program that applies ED-SAFE intervention in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

The study discusses questions like:

• Can consulting a psychiatrist via telehealth to evaluate patients with a primary decision to be hospitalized lessen inpatient utilization among those who can be treated or managed with outpatient care?

• Can hospitals with telehealth intervention evaluate more people and is it possible to do evaluations more quickly?

• How evaluating patients for suicide risk in the emergency department instead of transporting to other site impact workflow for other emergency care services?