Suicide Intervention Skills Among Japanese Medical Residents

• Published in: Academic psychiatry Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 402 - 407
• Main Authors: Fujisawa, Daisuke, Suzuki, Yuriko, Kato, Takahiro A., Hashimoto, Naoki, Sato, Ryoko, Aoyama-Uehara, Kumi, Fukasawa, Maiko, Tomita, Masayuki, Watanabe, Koichiro, Kashima, Haruo, Otsuka, Kotaro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.11.2013; American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Administrator Education; Adult; Anesthesiology; Case Studies; Clinical Competence - standards; Confidence; Correlation; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease Management; Educational History; Emotional Problems; Female; Foreign Countries; Foundation Programs; Graduate Medical Education; Graduate Students; Gynecology; Hospitals; Humans; Internal Medicine; Internship and Residency - standards; Intervention; Japan; Likert Scales; Male; Measures (Individuals); Medical Education; Medical personnel; Medical residencies; Medical Students; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Original Article; Patients; Physical Health; Physicians; Physicians - psychology; Physicians - standards; Psychiatry; Questionnaires; Scores; Self Efficacy; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Self-Assessment; Specialization; Statistical Analysis; Student Characteristics; Suicide; Suicide Intervention Response Inventory; Suicides & suicide attempts; Surveys and Questionnaires; Japan; Academic Psychiatry; Medical Resident; Suicide Prevention; Acad Psychiatry; Suicidal Patient
• ISSN: 1042-9670; 1545-7230
• DOI: 10.1007/BF03340078

Objectives Patient suicide is a tragic occurrence, and it can be a demoralizing experience for medical residents. Few studies, however, have assessed suicide management skills among these front-line healthcare professionals. This study evaluated the self-assessed competence and confidence of medical residents with regard to the management of potentially suicidal patients and assessed the correlation with the residents’ background characteristics. Method The authors conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional survey of 114 medical residents in Japan, using a modified version of the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI—22), the Medical Outcomes Study 8-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF28), and a 5-point Likert scale to assess confidence in suicide management. Results A majority (89.5%) of the residents rated their confidence in managing suicidal patients as Not At All Confident or Rather Not Confident, although most were close to completing their psychiatric rotation. Results on the SIRI—22 suggested intermediate competence in managing suicidal behavior, as compared with that of other healthcare professionals. Competence as indicated by the SIRI—22 score was weakly and negatively correlated with the score for self-perceived Vitality on the SF—8 scale. Conclusion Insufficient skills and lack of confidence in the management of suicidal patients was observed in this sample of Japanese medical residents, thus highlighting the need for improved suicide-management programs for junior medical residents in Japanese hospitals.