2023 Suicide Prevention Summit Australia: The session will provide an overview of two tools from the PROTECT Suicide Prevention Framework. The first is DESPAIR, a tool to pool together all the information that has been collected during an assessment. It is a response to the AWARE study which showed that assessing clinicians see what they want to see. In a rational world one would consider all the clinical information and then make a decision. In a rationalising world a decision may get made early and then the assessment process skews to fit around the decision. This influences which information gets collected, is given credibility and the way in which information gets documented. DESPAIR attempts to keep clinicians in the rational space by forcing a rapid cross-check of all information collected and not only the ones that support the decision. DESPAIR provides the foundation on which NOTES, the risk/safety documentation tool of PROTECT is based. It is designed to ensure that the process by which one has arrived at a decision is clearly visible to anyone reading the patient records. Together DESPAIR and NOTES provide the antidote to the findings from the AWARE study. By the end of the presentation, attendees will be able to (1) Utilise the DESPAIR tool to rapidly collate and consider the information gathered – safety Formulation (2) Utilise the NOTES tool to clearly and precisely document risk-related information and the basis for one’s decision making – Safety Documentation. The session will conclude with a short Q&A with Dr. Kar Ray.
For registration – Visit Mental Health Academy
