Techquity and suicide prevention Perspectives on Health and Tech

Mental health remains a significant area of concern in healthcare, especially after the pandemic. Universal screening tools, such as suicide risk assessment, have become a vital resource. One of the best ways to normalize mental health screening is by integrating it into your clinical electronic health record (EHR) workflow. However, with the influx in risk assessments, is your staff confident and prepared to handle the needs that arise? And does your organization have the infrastructure required to support those needs?
While telehealth has alleviated part of the burden for providers, it has also exposed many ways technology can create barriers to care, especially for communities who are already at a disproportionate risk for suicide and addiction. So, how can we better coordinate care across the illness-wellness continuum? Join Danny Gladden and Dr. Sarah Matt as they discuss the progress and opportunities to support mental health and improve suicide prevention.
Guests:
Danny Gladden, director of behavioral health and social care, Oracle Health
Dr. Sarah Matt, vice president of product strategy, Oracle Health
Hear them talk about:
Education and training for physicians regarding suicide assessment and prevention treatment (2:00) Suicide screening assessments and lack of staff resourcing and infrastructure to meet those needs (4:15) Crisis intervention training for first responders and the increased availability of mental health first aid (11:15) Telehealth doesn’t solve access to care issues—there’s still a gap in equity and barriers to care (13:00) Benefits of behavioral health data collected on digital record (15:15) Moving toward a consumer-focused patient experience (17:20) Suicide prevention resources (19:18) Learn more about Oracle Inpatient and Outpatient Behavioral Health solutions
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Episode Transcript:
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;09
Danny Gladden:
You're listening to Perspectives on Health and Tech, a podcast by Oracle, where we have conversations on creating a connected healthcare world where everyone thrives. Hi there. I'm Danny Gladden, clinical social worker, director of behavioral health and social care here for Oracle. Dr. Matt, so glad you are here.
Dr. Sarah Matt:
Thank you, Danny. I'm so excited. You know, when it comes to suicide prevention, I think there's so many problems that we could talk about, but I think there's also solutions and things we can do next.
 
00;00;30;16 - 00;01;06;28
Danny:
So I'm excited that we're talking about this topic today. Yeah. And, you know, I think we've made some great progress. And I say we as the collective, we myself, I'm a clinical social worker that practices in mental health services. I've actually ran one of the National Suicide prevention lifelines, but suicide prevention takes all of us. And so, you know, I'm actually just curious, you know, you're a physician—think about your preparation into sort of medical school and residency.
 
00;01;06;28 - 00;01;26;15
And you know what does what did your preparation look like as a physician assessing for and treating suicide risk?
Sarah:
So I went to med school a long time ago, I will say, But when it comes to training, it was very traditional. So four years of med school. And then I did my residency in general surgery and my fellowship in Burns.
 
00;01;26;17 - 00;01;56;05
So I'd say that when you think about structured learning for mental illness, it was pretty scared. Most of it was around inpatient mental health services. So that's the rotations that we did in medical school. Now there was the small bits and pieces you may have gotten on your primary care rotation, but it really wasn't a focus. Now today are unclear how the clinical rotations are going and how the medical schools have changed their training.
 
00;01;56;12 - 00;02;19;17
But I would say that for the generations of doctors that are in my age category, it definitely