"Prevention depends upon appropriate screening and identification," Kelly Posner, the developer of the scale, said in a news release. "It's about saving lives and directing limited resources to the people who actually need them."

In the study, researchers examined a sample of 124 teens who had attempted suicide, 312 teens diagnosed with depression and 237 adults who had reported psychiatric problems to an emergency department - the three groups that are most at-risk.

The patients were rated on the scale for their suicide risk and then tracked for 24 weeks while recieving mental health treatments.

And while it's too soon to call suicide watches a relic of the past, the study did point to a link between lifetime suicidal ideation (thinking about suicide) and actual attempted suicide later on down the line.

Read more at  http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-11-09/news/30379873_1_suicide-risk-suicide-attempts-suicide-watches