When a patient talks about suicide: Adding a social worker led session on the pharmacist's role in suicide prevention to the PharmD curriculum

Abstract

Background and purposeSuicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the US. Frontline health professionals like pharmacists can be trained to intervene with patients displaying warning signs of suicide. The purpose of this activity was to introduce student pharmacists to suicide prevention concepts. Educational activity and settingA social worker on faculty at the school of social work and a pharmacy practice faculty member collaborated to deliver a 50-min didactic session to first year students on the role of pharmacists in suicide prevention. The session included: (1) suicide statistics and public health signiifcance, (2) protective factors, risk factors, and warning signs of suicidal ideation, (3) strategies for asking about suicidal ideation, including practice asking about suicide, (4) resources and referrals, and (5) brief case scenarios and student questions. FindingsAn electronic survey was administered to 108 students and 83 responses (76.9%) were received. The results suggested the topic was new to most students and was relevant to their role as pharmacists. Most students (91%) reported that the session increased their confidence in asking about suicide for someone displaying warning signs. Student comments on the survey were generally positive with students requesting additional exposure to scenarios. Pharmacy programs may benefit from collaborating with social work or mental health professionals to deliver basic suicide intervention training tailored to pharmacy. SummaryA social worker-led session about suicide prevention was positively received by first year student pharmacists.