title: Managing suicidality in home-based telehealth.
abstract: We describe the case of a US veteran from the war in Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The patient was undergoing treatment at home via telehealth as part of a research trial. In week six, he presented with severe suicidal ideation and required emergency hospitalization. Through a series of immediate enhanced communications (i.e. by videoconference) between the patient, patient's family, treatment team and local resources, the patient's symptoms were assessed to identify suicidality and an intervention was successfully carried out, involving the development of a safety plan and eventual transportation to an inpatient unit at the local Veterans Administration Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for three days. This demonstrates the value of telehealth in identifying and treating severe psychiatric symptoms in addition to supporting the safety of these procedures to address suicidality.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Service, Ralph H Johnson VAMC, 109 Bee Street, Charleston, SC 29401, USA. grosd@musc.edu
authors.forename: Daniel F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Gros
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Veronee
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strachan
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Acierno
mesh_terms: D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D049269:Videoconferencing; D000092864:Suicide Prevention