[01.24.2025] Spelling/Grammar, AnKing Step Deck/AnKingMed, ID 2892988

[system]

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[andrewmathias8]

@AnKing-Maintainers nid:1484966112008 also already says “Which ‘SAD PERSONS’ risk factor carries the highest risk for suicide?” @DillingerMed has an open suggestion on another note of the same sort, apparently people are shifting away from saying suicide “completion”

[Jwill]

I recently did a QPR training and the current preferred term is technically “death by suicide”

Moving away from “committed suicide” etc.

I’m personally in favor of leaving it as is…but thought I’d throw that out there bc if we did change it I think that would be the “most accurate” phrase.

[mitchelnelson]

FA 2024 (pg. 579) uses “suicide death” when listing the SAD PERSONS mnemonic

[DillingerMed]

I think that suicide death and death by suicide are both allowable terms. I don’t think there is one “correct” one over the other based on AMBOSS/FA/NAMI. CDC refers to this document which includes both phrases. I don’t care which one (or both) we use. I think that “suicide” is likely fine as well, but it may be helpful to be explicit in the Anki cards so we know we’re referring to death vs. attempt. Even though saying “suicide” without referring to an attempt would mean death.

Suicide completion or committed suicide is explicitly called out as wrong terminology from a few resources referenced, and I think it should be removed from Anki. It implies a positive result, similar to “failed suicide attempt” implies a negative result. Death by suicide is never a positive result. The only reason I’d consider keeping “suicide completion” or “committed suicide” is if UW/AMBOSS/NBME use them in question(s).

[Jwill]

I’d support “suicide death”

[andrewmathias8]

I agree that we should eliminate language like “failed” and “completion”.

The American Psychiatric Association advises use of the term “died by suicide” instead of “commited” or “successful” suicide, but when speaking about the general topic of suicide (not a specific person’s actions), they simply say “suicide”.

i.e.:

When talking generally about suicide: “Risk factors for suicide include…”

When talking about someone’s actions: “His brother died by suicide at the age of 22…”

I think the spirit of AnKing is to align things towards what people will seen on STEP and USMLE boards while following “Society guidelines > AMBOSS = UWorld >> FA”. The QPR training program / AFSP don’t qualify as “society guidelines” imo.

AMBOSS and UW never use language like “suicide death” or “death by suicide” when talking factually about the general topic of suicide (see below).

I also think that keeping clozes simple ( as “suicide”, where appropriate) reduces cognitive load more than memorizing clozes as “death by suicide” or “suicide death.”

AMBOSS:

“Suicide: the act of intentionally ending one’s own life” (link)

“SAD PERSONS are at risk for suicide” (link)

"Reportable types of death: (link)
Below is a selection of the types of death that most commonly require reporting:

• …
• Suicide
• … "

UWorld:

Step 2 - 2517:

“Which of the following is the strongest risk factor for suicide in this patient?”

“This patient has a number of predisposing factors that increase her risk for suicide, including…”

“The strongest single factor predictive of suicide, however, is her history of a prior suicide attempt…”

Step 2 - 4043: “This patient’s request to stop medication despite his history of 7 prior mood episodes, a suicide attempt, and a previous failed discontinuation attempt should cause alarm. In addition, lithium’s protective effects against suicide would be lost.”

Step 2 - 6931: “…it would reduce the risk of suicide.”

Step 2 - 15037: “Postpartum psychosis is a medical emergency because affected patients, under the influence of delusions, may harm the child and are also at high risk for suicide.”

At the end of the day, it’s just semantics, so it’s not a hill that I care to die on (suicide pun not intended ).

[mitchelnelson]

UW Step 1 11618 uses “completed suicide”

But even with that I support changing to “suicide” or “suicide death” based on the previous discussions

[Eli.Tanenbaum]

would change to “death by suicide.” It’s important to specify the death/completion part because suicide attempts and death by suicide are distinct things; lots of studies in psychiatry show that such and such is associated with increased risk of suicidal ideation but not necessarily attempts or death by suicide

[DillingerMed]

I’ll start a conversation in Slack.

[andrewmathias8]

Saliently, UWorld Step 2 - 3759: “His depressive symptoms appear to be worsening, and he has several other major risk factors for suicide that can be remembered by using the mnemonic SAD PERSONS: old age, male gender, …”