Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Cannabis Present In Rising Number of Suicide Reports

A study in JAMA Network Open examined the presence of cannabis in suicide cases, as reported to US poison centers from 2009 through 2021. Researchers found intentional, suspected suicidal cannabis exposures increased by approximately 17% annually. According to national data, 18,689 exposures were reported in the time frame, and nearly all (96.5%) cases involved exposure to more than 1 substance in addition to cannabis. Overall, 9.6% of exposures resulted in death or major adverse outcomes, …

Urgent Care Has a Place in Adolescent Suicide Screening

There aren’t many things more truly urgent than a child considering suicide. More adolescents kill themselves than die from cancer, heart disease, and many other causes combined, in fact. Now researchers at the University of Missouri‒Kansas City School of Medicine say a brief screening tool designed to detect suicidal risk was shown to be effective in a pediatric urgent care clinic. Considering previous studies showing that 17% of high school students had seriously considered suicide—and …