Suicide training is essential for diabetes professionals, experts say

Healthcare professionals working in diabetes care should be given more training around suicidality and self-harm, an FDA-approved group has claimed. 

The RESCUE Collaborative Community has called for wellbeing training after suicide and depression rates have surged amongst people living with diabetes.

During a recent study, the RESCUE team questioned more than 110 healthcare professionals on depression rates and suicide prevalence within the diabetes community.

More than 70 per cent of respondents self-reported cases of attempted suicide amongst their patients with diabetes, with most reporting that it was due to the burden of continuous glucose control.

According to RESCUE, regulatory bodies, advocacy groups, healthcare professionals, industry groups, and academics need to work on multi-faceted solutions that will be needed to address this issue.

RESCUE is the first group of its kind that is working to reduce suicide rates in people with diabetes and will be publishing data from the survey shortly.

RESCUE will also be utilising machine learning to identify patterns associated with predicting risk using electronic health data, producing educational videos and content to help increase awareness and risk assessment processes, and hopes to work with national and international registries to improve coding of events to ensure the data is being captured properly.

Additionally, tools will be designed, studied and implemented in the clinical setting for identification and reduction of risk, and to improve awareness and understanding of the factors associated with self-harm and suicide and provide appropriate support resources.

To get involved in the work of the RESCUE Collaborative Community email Professor Barnard-Kelly on Katharinebarnard@bhrltd.com

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