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In-patient suicide in psychiatric hospitals
E A Deisenhammer1, C DeCol, M Honeder
1Department of General Psychiatry, University of Innsbruck, Austria.
Objective:
In-patient suicides continue to be a matter of concern in hospital psychiatry. In-patients at risk for suicide need to be identified.
Method:
In-patient suicides in two psychiatric hospitals were assessed over a time-span of 8 years. Cases were detected by comparing police suicide data with the hospitals' admission and discharge records. Further information was then gathered from patients' records.
Results:
During the period under investigation 44 in-patients committed suicide, the majority of them being diagnosed with affective disorders (45.4%) or schizophrenia (27.3%). The most commonly used method was 'jumping in front of a vehicle' (34.1%); 79.5% were treated in an open ward at the time of their suicide, 15.9% in a locked unit. The majority of open ward suicides happened outside the hospital; 39.4% of patients had left the ward without giving notice.
Conclusion:
Additional cautionary measures are warranted especially for patients in open wards.