PsychEd Episode 18: Assessing Suicide Risk with Dr. Juveria Zaheer

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. In this episode from our EPA mini-series on clinical skills, we comprehensively review the risk factors for self-harm and suicide and components of risk assessment.

 

Our guest expert is Dr. Juveria Zaheer. She is a Clinician Scientist with the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, and Education Administrator in the Emergency Department at CAMH. Her research focuses on suicide, gender and culture, and she is the lead author of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Clinician Handbook on Suicide Prevention.

 

The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:

1. Be familiar with the risk factors and predictors of suicide, as well as protective factor
2. Be familiar with the components of a Suicide Risk assessment
3. Be familiar with how to comprehensively document and communicate the risk assessment

 

Recommended Readings:

• Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Clinician Handbook on Suicide Prevention
  • Includes safety plan, risk assessment template and clinical cases in the appendix

• Columbia-suicide severity rating scale (c-ssrs)

 

CPA Note: The views expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.

 

Credits note: Alex Raben provided audio-editing for this episode.

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