WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The Air Force has revised Air Force Instruction 41-210, “Patient Administration Functions,” to better protect privacy rights and ensure an appropriate flow of information between commanders and support agencies.
Air Force officials believe this will reduce suicide risks among its Airmen.
"Confidentiality continues to be seen as a double-edged sword," said Lt. Col. Rick Campise, the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program director. “We have to maintain a balance between a patient’s privacy and a commander’s need for information that allows (him or her to) make decisions that ensure the safety of the Airman and the success of the mission.”
An assessment of all Air Force active-duty suicides in 2003 revealed that some commanders viewed confidentiality as preventing adequate communication with life skills support centers, Colonel Campise said. In other cases, the absence of confidentiality was perceived as a factor in discouraging Airmen from seeking help.
Mental-health staff members are now required to review all open and closed mental-health records before active-duty Airmen transfer to new bases. Based upon the record review, mental-health providers can determine whether the new destination requires arranging for additional resources to support Airmen before and after they move, Colonel Campise said.
Part of this process may involve asking the commander to assist with decisions regarding the Airman’s welfare, Colonel Campise said.
Air Force Medical Service officials recently provided two key tools that assist in helping to ensure this is done successfully.
The "Air Force Guide for Managing Suicidal Behavior" and the "Leader's Guide for Managing Personnel in Distress" both discuss the need for collaboration between mental-health staffs and commanders. Both tools also emphasize balancing privacy and sharing essential mission information. Additionally, a video titled, "Communicating with Commanders," was released to mental-health clinicians in November.
Through July 15, 26 active-duty Airmen committed suicide in 2004, for a rate 13.0 per 100,000. The Air Force has experienced no suicides among Airmen deployed in operations Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom.
The service’s suicide prevention program is commonly hailed as the best program of its type in the world, officials said. In December, a landmark University of Rochester study of suicide in the U.S. Air Force found the service’s suicide-prevention program reduced the risk of suicide by 33 percent during the past six years.
In 2003, the Air Force’s Suicide Prevention Program was hailed as a “model program” in a report released by the president's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. In 2001, then-U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher made the program a model for the nation and incorporated it into the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
In the mid-1990s, amid rising suicide rates in the military, Air Force leaders recognized that suicide is a community problem, and the formal program was implemented in 1996. From 1991 to 1996, the active-duty suicide rate was 14.1 per 100,000. During the seven years of the prevention program’s existence, through the end of 2003, the suicide rate was 9.2 per 100,000 population.