Suicide training ‘a must’ for A&E staff

ALL nurses in accident and emergency departments should get suicide awareness and skills training, as well as help in identifying suicidal behaviour, a new report recommends.

The report was based on a study of Wexford General Hospital by the Health Service Executive and the National Suicide Research Foundation. The study was conducted over a nine- month period, from September 2004 to May 2005, and focused on 193 people who attended the A&E department after deliberately harming themselves.

Nursing staff of the hospital’s A&E department also took part in the study.

Findings show that 50% of those assessed had consumed alcohol. Two thirds of patients were women under 34 and over half of all patients had a history of self-harm. Some 11,000 cases of self-harm are reported in Irish hospitals annually.

One of the report’s authors, Stephen Lamb, who is also liaison mental health nurse at Waterford Regional Hospital, said &staff of the A&E department at Wexford General Hospital said they lacked the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to help self-harm patients.

“Through enquiry and assessment the accident and emergency nurse can assist in identifying persons’ risks and needs, and enable them in gaining appropriate help,” Mr Lamb said.

Nurses in Wexford General said they would benefit from annual training in this area and that new recruits need similar support.

National Parasuicide Registry data shows that up to 300 people attend each of the country’s casualty departments annually, having deliberately harmed themselves.

In conjunction with the study, 39 A&E nurses at Wexford General received training, over the nine- month period, in self-harm, suicide and mental health.

They were also shown how to engage patients in interviews, through which they completed a 15-point questionnaire on suicide intent for each particular patient.

Data from Britain suggests that half of all self-harm patients leave hospital without being comprehensively assessed by a trained professional.