Date of Graduation

Fall 12-15-2017

Document Access

Project/Capstone - Global access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

College/School

School of Nursing and Health Professions

First Advisor

Carla Martin

Abstract

Abstract

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in children between the ages of 10-19 years. Most people who die by suicide have visited a healthcare provider within the prior year. Inpatient healthcare providers, particularly clinical nurse leaders (CNLs), are in a strategic position to assess adolescents for suicide risk regardless of their admitting diagnosis. “To ASQ or Not to ASQ” is an evidence-based project aimed at improving compliance with the Ask Suicide Screening Questions (ASQ) in an eight-bed medical-surgical adult and pediatric overflow intensive care unit (MSICU) in a large tertiary 629-bed academic medical center. Methods included convenience sampling of twenty-nine staff members to aid in identifying gaps and inform activities aimed at achieving at least 90% compliance with the ASQ suicide-screening tool. Gaps identified included lack of staff knowledge in regard to policy, procedure, and documentation. Post intervention survey demonstrated a significant knowledge improvement from the baseline of 50% to 100%. The model for continuous improvement: plan, do, study, act will be used to provide ongoing monitoring and reporting of screening compliance to key stakeholders in order to close the gap between knowledge and practice in this clinical environment.

Keywords: suicide risk, adolescent, screening tool

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