To search or not to search. Is there a clinical profile of a patient harboring a weapon?

In many psychiatric emergency rooms such as ours, patients are not routinely searched for weapons. A study was conducted over a 2-month period, to begin to identify the intuitive cues or clinical factors involved in the decision to search a patient. Twenty-six patients who were searched were compared to 590 who were not searched. Among the patients who were searched, those who carried the means for self- or other-directed harm were compared to those who did not. Possible mechanisms involved in the decision-making process to search patients are discussed.