Analysis of the interviews with hospital representatives working for the five service components in the care continuum identified three broad areas (or opportunities) for improving care delivery for people seen in emergency departments with self‐inflicted injury. The first area relates to the capacity of hospitals in general, and emergency departments in particular, to screen for suicidal behavior. While our site (a tertiary care hospital and adjoining psychiatric hospital) was able to assess patient risk for self‐inflicted injury, the informants’ consensus was that most emergency departments across the country lack adequate expertise and staffing for such assessments.
