Additional Strategies in Suicide Prevention: Older Adults
Supplemental Course to the APNA Suicide Prevention Certificate Program

Contact Hours:  1.5 contact hours 
Target Audience:  RN, APRN  
Presenter:  Cheryl Puntil, MN, APRN, PMHCNS-BC

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States and rates are on the rise, especially among older adults. Although older adults make up 16.8% of the population, they account for approximately 22% of all suicides. Compounding this concern, they are also less likely to survive a suicide attempt.

Building on the practical skills learned in the APNA Suicide Prevention Certificate Program, this course will increase your knowledge, skills, and critical thinking when providing care to youth at risk for suicide.

Designed by psychiatric-mental health nurse experts in suicide prevention, this self-paced course will provide you with:

• Evidence-based nursing knowledge to increase your confidence and competence in suicide prevention, assessment, and care management for older adults at risk for suicide.
• Understanding of the unique risk and protective factors of older adults at risk for suicide.
• Clinical illustrations and examples, as well as supplemental activities and resources targeted to working with older adults at risk for suicide. 

Registrants have 90 days from date of registration to complete the full course and earn nursing continuing professional development contact hours.

Learning Outcome:   
Upon completion of this course, the participant will:

• Report an increase in confidence and competence working with older adults at risk for suicide. 

Course Outline:

Phenomenology of Older Adult Suicide 

• Epidemiology
• Terminology
• Risk and Protective Factors

Self-Awareness 

• Build therapeutic relationships 
• Identify how ethics and societal attitudes influence the effectiveness of suicide prevention efforts for older adults at risk of suicide

Comprehensive Suicide Risk Assessment for Older Adults at Risk for Suicide

• Strategies to elicit severity and intensity of suicide ideation 
• Formulate suicide risk

Plan of Care

• Develop a collaborative Safety Plan 
• Update Safety Plan at discharge

Disclosures:  This course offers specialized content; however, it does not include the foundational knowledge presented in the APNA Suicide Prevention Certificate Program. Learners are strongly encouraged to complete the APNA Suicide Prevention Certificate Program prior to this course.

The APNA planners and faculty have no relevant financial relationships to disclose. Off-label uses will not be discussed during this presentation. 

Keywords:  Suicide Prevention, Suicide Assessment, Suicide, Older Adults

For organizations interested in purchasing the program in bulk, please email grouporders@apna.org. 

Nursing Continuing Professional Development:
1.5 contact hours. *To receive contact hours, participants must: complete all course modules, an evaluation, and an honor statement, as well as earn a passing score of at least 80% on all post-tests within 90 days from registration. You will have five attempts to correctly answer the questions on the post-test. Credit cannot be earned unless all components of the program are completed. No partial credit can be awarded. 

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Release Date:  June 18, 2025
Access to this course will end:  May 31, 2028

Cancellation Policy: APNA does not issue refunds for eLearning purchases once the order is accomplished and the corresponding course information is accessed. However, we understand that exceptional circumstances can take place with regard to the character of the product we supply. Therefore, we do honor requests for a refund in situations outlined here. 

© APNA 2025. Reproducing and distributing this material without the written permission of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) is prohibited. 

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