Primary Care
Primary care is the setting in which Americans receive most of their health and behavioral health care. Frequent contacts and long-standing relationships between primary care providers (PCPs) and their patients make primary care an ideal setting for suicide prevention.
Why Address Suicide Prevention
- People who die by suicide are more likely to have seen a PCP in the previous month before their death than any other health care provider.1
- For a patient at risk for suicide, a visit with the PCP may be the only chance to access needed care.
- National health care improvement efforts (e.g., patient-centered medical homes) are providing new ways to integrate suicide prevention into primary care.
How Primary Care Providers Can Take Action
The best way to prevent suicide is to use a comprehensive approach that includes these key components:
- Establish protocols for screening, assessment, intervention, and referral
- Train all staff in suicide care practices and protocols, including safety planning and lethal means counseling
- Create agreements with specific behavioral health practices that will take referrals
- Ensure continuity of care by transmitting patient health information to emergency care and behavioral health care providers to create seamless care transitions and follow up with at-risk patients by phone between visits
- Provide information on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline crisis line and services
Reference
- Ahmedani, B. K., Simon, G. E., Stewart, C., Beck, A., Waitzfelder, B. E., Rossom, R., . . . Solberg, L. I. (2014). Health care contacts in the year before suicide death. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 29(6), 870–877.
Learn More
- See the Recommended Resources below selected by SPRC personnel.
- See All Resources Related to Primary Care for a full list of materials, programs, trainings, and other information available from SPRC. Use the filters on the left to narrow your results.
- For more on other settings and groups, see our Settings and Populations pages.
Recommended Resources
Suicide Prevention Toolkit for Primary Care Practices
This toolkit contains the information and tools needed to implement state-of-the-art suicide prevention practices in primary care settings.
CALM: Counseling on Access to Lethal Means
This free online course is designed to help mental health professionals counsel people at risk for suicide—and their families—on reducing access to lethal means.
Zero Suicide website
This website provides information, resources, and tools for implementing Zero Suicide.
Safety planning guide: A quick guide for clinicians
This quick guide for clinicians may be used to develop a safety plan - a prioritized written list of coping strategies ...
Training resource guide for suicide prevention in primary care settings
This guide is designed to support county efforts to engage primary care in suicide prevention.
All Resources Related to Primary Care
Displaying 87 results. Refine results using the filters on the left.
Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
Screening and Safety Planning With Adults at Risk of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Suicide: An Issue Brief for Clinicians
2023
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Resource List/Bibliography
Suicide Prevention Resource Center's Best Practices Registry
2023
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Webinar/Training
2010 Garrett Lee Smith State and Tribal Suicide Prevention Grantee Meeting
2023
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: Screening and Assessment for Suicide in Health Care Settings
2022
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Webinar/Training
Advancing Comprehensive Community Suicide Prevention: European Alliance Against Depression (Webinar #2 in a series)
2022
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Webinar/Training
Zero Suicide Webinar: Data-Driven Quality Improvement in Zero Suicide
2022
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Webinar/Training
Pre-application Webinar: Cooperative Agreements to Implement Zero Suicide in Health Systems
2022
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Webinar/Training
Creating and Using Partnerships to Reduce Access to Lethal Means: Part 1
2022
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Toolkit
Best and Promising Practices for the Implementation of Zero Suicide in Health and Behavioral Health Care Systems in Indian Country
2019
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Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
Alcohol and drug misuse and suicide and the millennial generation: A devastating impact
2019
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
TEXAS: Texas Doctors Reexamine Their Role in Suicide Prevention among Patients
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MISSOURI: Following Tragedy, St. Louis Hospitals Renew Commitment to Postpartum Mental Health
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
COLORADO: As Suicide Rates Rise, Colorado Is Fighting to Turn the Tide
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Panel: Doctors Should Focus on Preventing Depression in Pregnant Women, New Moms
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Using Electronic Health Records to Predict Suicide Attempts and Deaths in Outpatient Care
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MISSOURI: Children's Mercy Hospital Now Adding Suicide Prevention Questions to Check-Ups
2018
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Toolkit
Coercion related to mental health and substance use in the context of intimate partner violence: A toolkit for screening, assessment, and brief counseling in primary care and behavioral health settings
2018
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Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
Mental health-related physician office visits by adults aged 18 and over: United States, 2012–2014. (Data Brief, No. 311)
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
Recommended Standard Care for People with Suicide Risk: A Critical Step Forward
2018
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MONTANA: Bozeman Pediatrics Offering Trigger Locks for Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative
2018
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Guidelines/Recommendations
Recommended standard care for people with suicide risk: Making health care suicide safe
2018
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Report
The way forward: Federal action for a system that works for all people living with SMI and SED and their families and caregivers – Full report
2017
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
WASHINGTON: Every Health Care Provider in WA Is Required To Be Trained in Suicide Prevention
2017
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Report
Breaking through barriers: The emerging role of healthcare provider training programs in firearm suicide prevention
2017
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Article/Chapter
Speaking the same language: Developing culturally-informed messages about firearm safety
2017
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
MONTANA: Montana Team Recommends Hospitals Add Depression Screening to Patient Questionnaires
2017
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NEWS/HIGHLIGHT
NEW MEXICO: State Hopes Primary Care Doctors Can Aid Suicide Prevention Efforts
2016
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Resource List/Bibliography
LGBT training curricula for behavioral health and primary care practitioners
2015
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Guidelines/Recommendations
Psychosocial interventions for mental and substance use disorders: A framework for establishing evidence-based standards
2015
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Guidelines/Recommendations
Suicide risk in adolescents, adults and older adults: Screening
2014
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Manual
TAP 33: Systems-level implementation of screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT)
2013
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Guidelines/Recommendations
VA/DoD clinical practice guideline for assessment and management of patients at risk for suicide
2013
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Report
Self-harm and suicide prevention, intervention & postvention: Lessons from North America
2013
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Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
RESPECT-Mil (Re-Engineering Systems of Primary Care Treatment in the Military)
2012
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Article/Chapter
Barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking for young elite athletes: A qualitative study
2012
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Report
First national conference for survivors of suicide attempts, health care professionals, and clergy and laity: Summary of workgroup reports
2008
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Guidelines/Recommendations
Preventing suicide: A resource for primary health care workers
2000
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