Relationship between Risk Status & Risk State

We received the following question from a colleague:

When documenting risk status we find that there are two ways that people interpret this part of the formulation (and it seems to depend of how much of a person risk state you take into account when formulating the risk status):

1. A description of the more enduring features of the person suicide risk. For example: Joe is similar risk to an inpatient setting because he has a schizophrenia and has had a highly lethal suicide attempt in the past. In this instance Joe may still be being treated as a community setting (based on accessible resources and contingency plans) . Or,

2. A description of risk status relative to a population at a given moment in time. For example: Joe is lower risk that other patient in an inpatient setting because he has recently recommenced his medication, has a good relationship with a case manager and has been actively using a safety plan. Joe higher risk that the community population because of his schizophrenia and highly lethal suicide attempt.

Below is Professor Pisani's video response: