Authors: Payne, Samuel E.¹; Hill, Jeffrey V.²; Johnson, David E.³

Source: Military Medicine, Volume 173, Number 1, January 2008 , pp. 25-35(11)

Publisher: AMSUS - Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Abstract:

Military mental health care professionals have, for decades, recommended that commanders implement a unit watch (now called a “command interest profile” at most Army posts) as a tool for enhancing the safety of personnel in the unit when a soldier presents with suicidal or homicidal ideation. Although these procedures are used extensively in garrison and in operational settings, there exists no specific body of literature or Army publication to offer either a rationale or a set of guidelines for their use. We have successfully used unit watch protocols for years both in the deployment setting and in garrison. This article provides both a rationale and a set of guidelines for their use based on fundamental military psychiatric principles, review of the relevant literature, and anecdotal experience with this intervention. Although further research is indicated, this article provides support for the use of unit watch in military settings.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Outpatient Behavioral Health Services, 13 West, Fort Gordon, GA 30905. 2: Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, APO AE 09180. 3: Schweinfurt Behavioral Health Clinic, CMR 457 Box 497, APO AE 09033.

Publication date: 2008-01-01

More about this publication?

• Military Medicine is the Association's official monthly journal. The objective of the Journal is to promote awareness of Federal medicine by providing a forum for responsible discussion of common ideas and problems relevant to Federal healthcare. Its mission is: To increase healthcare education by providing scientific and other information to its readers; to facilitate communication; and to offer a prestige publication for members' writings.
  
  Military Medicine's 5-year Impact Factor: 1.061
  
  
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