Development of a Clinical Pathway for the Assessment and Management of Suicidality on a Pediatric Psychiatric Unit

The setting for this project is a 19-bed inpatient psychiatry unit providing care for children and adolescents (6– 17 years of age) in a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Ontario, Canada. Three Lean methodologies were used: 1) The A3 process was used to articulate a problem statement and help clarify expectations, determine goals, and uncover, address and encourage discussion of potential issues; 2) Process mapping was used to show how work process activities are sequenced from the time of the patient’s admission to discharge; and 3) Standard work, where consideration was given to the breakdown of the work into categories which are sequenced, organized and repeatedly followed. Generally accepted methodologies for developing clinical pathways were used to create a framework and algorithm for the assessment and management of suicidality in psychiatrically hospitalized children and adolescents.