Best practice suicide screening/assessment tools for the emergency department

Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) often suffer from more than physical ailments when seeking care and treatment. Some of these patients have emotional ailments and suicidal ideation when they come to the local ED. The lack of recognition of at-risk patients by health care providers can lead to poor patient outcomes and death. The focus of this project was to understand which valid and reliable suicide assessment tools described in the literature were considered the best evidence-based instruments to identify ED patients who were at risk for suicide. Peplau\u27s theory of interpersonal relations guided this project. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to assess tools that were used for the identification of at-risk patients. Analysis of the included literature was conducted using Melnyk\u27s levels of evidence and a preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses tool to catalog the articles retrieved. Ten articles were included in the study. Final analysis of the articles identified the need for 100% of patients to be assessed for suicide risk upon arrival at the ED. The instrument identified to meet the need for the local organization was the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Screening tool. The findings of this project might promote social change by providing insights into best practice assessment tools to support improved assessment of suicide risk for ED patients

The VST telescope control software in the ESO VLT environment

The VST (VLT Survey Telescope) is a 2.6 m Alt-Az telescope to be installed at Mount Paranal in Chile, in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) site. The VST is a wide-field imaging facility planned to supply databases for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) science and carry out stand-alone observations in the UV to I spectral range. This paper will focus mainly on control software aspects, describing the VST software architecture in the context of the whole ESO VLT control concept. The general architecture and the main components of the control software will be described.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, ICALEPCS 2001 Conference, PSN#THAP05

Medium Alt-Az Telescope Control System Standardization. A case Study: The TT1 Control System

The TT1 (Toppo Telescope #1) is a 1.54 m Alt-Az telescope designed and built by the Technology Working Group (TWG) of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte (OAC), Naples Italy. The standardization process is of course one of the fundamental requirements for telescope control system design and development, well considered in the TT1 design. In this paper the approach used to identify a control system applicable to medium-size Alt-Az telescope is presented

Adolescent and caregiver perception of family functioning: Relation to suicide ideation and attempts

This study assessed the relationship between perceived family functioning and two indicators of suicidality in an adolescent sample. A total of 103 adolescents psychiatrically hospitalized for suicidal ideation and/or behavior completed a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing family functioning, negative affectivity, suicidal ideation in the past week assessed by Beck\u27s Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS; Beck et al., 1979), and past suicide attempts. Participants\u27 primary caregivers also completed a questionnaire on family functioning. A paired samples t-test evaluated overall discrepancy between adolescent- and caregiver-reported family functioning. Linear and logistic regression models were used to evaluate the simple associations between perceived family functioning and suicidal indicators (BSS and previous attempt status), as well as the associations between perceived family functioning and suicidal indicators after controlling for negative affect. Results indicated that adolescents\u27 ratings of family functioning were significantly worse than caregivers\u27 ratings, and positively associated with BSS scores and a history of suicide attempt. When negative affect was controlled for, adolescent-reported family functioning was significantly associated with BSS, but only trended toward significance with attempt status. Findings suggest that adolescents\u27 perceptions of family functioning may be a key contributing factor to suicidal ideation in adolescents with psychiatric disorders

Software reverse engineering and development: the VST TCS case

The 2.6 m VST telescope is going to be installed at Cerro Paranal (Chile) as a powerful instrument for optical surveys. It is a joint project between the INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte (OAC) and ESO. This paper deals with Telescope Control Software (TCS) technical aspects and software engineering design and development strategies

Parameterization Models for Traceable Characterization of Planar CPW SOL Calibration Standards

International audienceMethods for traceable characterization and uncertainty evaluation of planar 1-port CPW short-open-load (SOL) devices are developed. The agreement of modelling and verification measurement results greatly supports the application of the proposed parameterization models and used FEM-based EM modelling of CPW structures for traceable characterization of planar CPW-based SOL devices in the frequency range between a few kHz up to 50 GHz

The Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector Software for the VST

The effects of atmospheric differential refraction on astrophysical measurements are well known. In particular, as a ray of light passes through the atmosphere, its direction is altered by the effects of atmospheric refraction. The amount of this effect depends basically on the variation of the refractive index along the path of the ray. The real accuracy needed in the atmosphere model and in the calculation of the correction to be applied is of course, considerably worse, especially at large zenith angles. On the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) the use of an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC) is foreseen at a wide zenith distance range. This paper describes the software design and implementation aspects regarding the analytical correction law discovered to correct the refraction effect during observations with VST

Examination and measurement of coping among adolescents with spinal cord injury

Objectives: To describe coping strategy use in adolescents with spinal cord injury (SCI), to explore the underlying factor structure of a measure of coping among adolescents with SCI and to assess relationships between coping and psychosocial outcomes. Setting: Multiple pediatric SCI centers in the United States. Methods: One hundred and eighty-two participants aged 13–17 years who experienced an SCI completed measures including the Kidcope, Children’s Depression Inventory, Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Results: Participants reported that cognitive restructuring and resignation are the most used coping strategies, whereas social support, emotional regulation (calming) and cognitive restructuring are the most effective coping strategies. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that a three-factor solution provided the most parsimonious model for the relationships between the different coping strategies. However, only one of the three factors had acceptable internal consistency. This factor comprised escape-oriented coping strategies or an avoidant approach to coping with the sequelae of SCI. After controlling for demographic/injury-related factors, higher scores on the escape-oriented factor were associated with the lower quality of life and higher levels of depression and anxiety symptomatology. Conclusion: Escape-oriented coping is associated with maladaptive psychosocial outcomes in adolescents with SCI. These adolescents report that active coping strategies are most effective in reducing SCI-related distress. Coping strategy use may mediate psychosocial outcomes in adolescents with SCI and represent an intervention target in adolescents who overly rely on escape-oriented coping