Emergency Department Management of Deliberate Self-harm

Approximately 500 000 patients in the United States present to emergency departments (EDs) annually after deliberate self-harm 1 and are at high short-term risk for repeat self-harm 2 and suicide. Improving their emergency care is a key focus of national strategies to reduce the suicide rate, 4 yet little is known about ED management of deliberate self-harm. We provide the first national estimates, to our knowledge, of how frequently evidence-based management practices are used by EDs when treating patients who present for self-harm.