MARSHALL TWP, Allegheny County — Suicide claims 45,000 Americans per year, but a North Carolina doctor thinks a few simple steps could greatly reduce that number.

Dr. Steven Bentsen, the regional chief medical officer for Beacon Health Options in Morrisville, N.C., shared his contention Tuesday with more than 170 health care, social and mental health workers at a suicide prevention and intervention seminar at the Doubletree by Hilton Pittsburgh-Cranberry.

Bentsen advocates the “zero suicide” model, which recommends that standardized suicide screenings be done at every doctor visit, emergency room intake, school nurse visit, hospital admission and other venues.

“The way it’s being assessed is really random now,” Bentsen said.

He said zero suicide assessments could prevent a first suicide attempt, which in turn would prevent the expected further attempts.

“It’s like taking someone’s blood pressure,” Bentsen said. “Suicide should be assessed. It doesn’t take much time at all to screen people for suicide risk.”

He said special care should be taken as patients move through the health care and mental health system.

“Zero suicide looks at the transitions between care,” Bentsen said. “This is where people fall through the cracks.”

Regarding a simple yet effective screening, Bentsen recommends the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale.

He said the six-question assessment can be used by not only health care workers, but by coaches, prison wardens, school bus drivers or any adult.

The respondent answers each question using a scale of one to five in severity.

The first question is: “Have you wished you were dead or wished you could go to sleep and not wake up?”

If the answer is yes, the second question is: “Have you actually had any thoughts of killing yourself?”

If the answer to that question is yes, four additional questions are asked to assess the danger the person is in of harming himself.

Bentsen said the Columbia assessment is appropriate for all ages, takes only a few minutes to administer, reduces false positive results, and has been recommended by the president of the American Psychiatric Association, which acknowledged it could decrease suicide.

The schools, police departments and other agencies giving the test should have a protocol in place if a respondent’s answers merit further investigation or treatment.

Bentsen said only about 1 percent of respondents will have “worrisome results.”

Sheila Talarico, the executive director of the Glade Run Foundation, said Wednesday that several staff members from Glade Run Lutheran Services in Zelienople attended the seminar on Tuesday.

“That type of training is exceptionally valuable across our program areas because we work with youth who have some pretty severe emotional health issues, including depression and anxiety,” Talarico said.

She said it is important for staff members to recognize the warning signs of suicide and to help parents, teachers and caregivers to recognize those signs.

“In our residential program, we often have kids who have suicidal ideation or attempts,” Talarico said. “That is unfortunately a common thread among our residential kids.”

Alexandra Salcido, the director of family support and clinical services at Glade Run, said the therapists and supervisors who attended the seminar found it extremely helpful.

“We came back kind of percolating,” Salcido said.

The staff members who attended were excited to discuss what they learned and to decide how to use ideas and new treatment theories and practices.

She said Glade Run staff use the Columbia suicide assessment with all clients at all levels of care.

The supervisors who attended the seminar will serve as trainers on the methods and treatments that they learned, Salcido said.

The seminar also included a discussion on evidence-based suicide prevention and intervention strategies, presentations by suicide task force groups, and a panel of family survivors and suicide survivors who shared their personal stories.