Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this paper was to study the collaboration between emergency departments (EDs) in general hospitals and community health services (CHS) in Norway when providing psychosocial care and aftercare to patients treated in EDs following a suicide attempt. We wanted to explore the extent to which quality indicators at the hospital level measured in 1999 and 2006 could predict the presence or absence of a chain of care structure in the CHS in 2006.MethodsData were collected through structured interviews with informants from 95% of all general hospitals in Norway in 1999 and 2006, and informants from CHS, in a stratified sample of Norwegian municipalities in 2006 (n = 47).ResultsIn 15 of the 47 municipalities (32%), the CHS reported having a chain of care structure in 2006. A discriminant function analysis revealed that the hospitals that in 1999 had: (a) a collaboration agreement with aftercare providers, and (b) written guidelines, including a quality assurance system, were significantly more likely to have municipalities with a chain of care structure in their catchment area in 2006.ConclusionsHospitals' and municipalities' self-reported provision of aftercare services for patients treated after a suicide attempt was markedly below the recommendations given in national standards. Systems at the hospital level for the management and care of patients admitted after a suicide attempt and systematic collaboration between hospitals and aftercare providers seem to be important elements in the long-term maintenance of continuity of care for suicide attempters.
Highlights
The aim of this paper was to study the collaboration between emergency departments (EDs) in general hospitals and community health services (CHS) in Norway when providing psychosocial care and aftercare to patients treated in Emergency Department (ED) following a suicide attempt
In three previous studies [18,19,20] we have reported on assessments of the quality of hospital services provided for patients admitted after a suicide attempt
In 15 (32%) of the municipalities, CHS reported that in 2006 they had a chain of care structure (CCS) that filled the 3 criteria listed above
Summary
The aim of this paper was to study the collaboration between emergency departments (EDs) in general hospitals and community health services (CHS) in Norway when providing psychosocial care and aftercare to patients treated in EDs following a suicide attempt. A chain of care implies significant challenges, both with respect to delivering services to patients with multiple and complex problems and with respect to organising and coordinating various actors and care providers in services that are funded and organised differently and on different care levels. Many of these patients leave hospital without adequate suicide risk assessment after a suicide attempt [7,8] and they often do. This implies that a chain of care presupposes collaboration between a hospital and each of the many municipalities within the hospital's catchment area
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