A Sisyphean task: assessing suicide ideation

[...]the analysis does not present data on two major issues: what is the real-world efficacy of using these scales in the general older adult population and what are the benefits using these scales as part of indicated or selective prevention efforts. Painter and colleagues described a training program for pharmacists that was used to provide skills necessary to recognize a crisis and the warning signs of suicide. The training program was led by the QPR Institute plan and the “First Question” principle relied on a one question detection of suicidal ideation: “Have you ever experienced thoughts of death or suicide?” Findings from this project suggest that a suicide prevention training program helped pharmacist respondents build confidence in detection of suicide signs (Painter et al., 2018).