Collecting mortality data to drive real-time improvement in suicide prevention

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Mental Health Interventions

Background:

• Suicide prevention programs require accurate mortality data for effective quality improvement.
• The Perfect Depression Care (PDC) initiative aimed to reduce suicide rates within Henry Ford Health System.
• Evaluating data sources is crucial for optimizing suicide prevention strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare government mortality records with internally collected data for quality improvement in suicide prevention.
• To assess the effectiveness of different data sources in tracking suicide deaths within the PDC initiative.

Main Methods:

• The study analyzed suicide mortality data from the PDC initiative over an 11-year period.
• Mortality data were sourced internally and from government death records, then linked to patient treatment data.
• Statistical analysis compared suicide rates derived from both data sources during baseline and intervention periods.

Main Results:

• A significant reduction in suicide rates was observed during the PDC initiative, regardless of data source.
• No significant differences were found in mean suicide rates between internal and government data.
• A notable difference was observed in the capture of unique suicide deaths between the two data sources.

Conclusions:

• Internally collected data proved effective for measuring suicide deaths within the PDC initiative.
• Combining internal and government-collected records is recommended for future suicide prevention programs.
• Accurate data collection is vital for driving quality improvement in suicide prevention efforts.