Highlights
- •Passive suicidal ideation (SI) is described in the literature as death ideation, ranging from believing life is not worth living to thoughts of, or desire for, death.
- •Nurse practitioners in primary care settings are front-liners to screen, evaluate, and manage older adult patients suffering from passive suicidal ideation.
- •The response and ongoing management of individuals with SI depend on determining their risk level.
Abstract
This case study presents the diagnosis and treatment of an older adult with depression
and passive suicide ideation (SI). While treating depressed patients at risk for suicide,
family nurse practitioners must stay grounded in patient data related to medications,
ideally using the patient’s psychiatric condition (ie, depression with suicidal risk)
as the separate and appropriate target of clinical intervention, and discuss the risks
and benefits of medications targeting both conditions with the patient. The response
and ongoing management of individuals with passive SI depend on determining their
risk level.
Keywords
Abbreviations:
SI (suicide ideation), PCPs (primary care providers)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Biography
Reimund Serafica, PhD, PMHNP-BC is an associate professor at the School of Nursing, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV and can be contacted at [email protected]; Benito Calderon, MD is with Calderon Medical Group, Las Vegas, NV Timothy Grigsby, PhD is an assistant professor at the School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas NV.
In compliance with standard ethical guidelines, the author reports no relationships with business or industry that would pose a conflict of interest.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 03, 2023
Identification
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© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
