Abstract
Background: Suicide is a severe public health problem, in 2008 the Italian ministerial recommendation n° 4 on the management of suicide defined key areas for the identification of suicidal risk in hospital wards. The guidelines are important in defining professional liability issues, in line with Law 24 of 8/3/2017 ‘Gelli-Bianco’. Our study aimed to investigate the appropriateness of the official documents on suicide prevention delivered by Italian hospitals and their compliance with the ministerial recommendation.Methods: The Italian hospitals’ public procedures on suicide prevention issued between 2008 and 2019 (n = 33) were retrieved thorough web search and further evaluated according to their compliance with the 2008 Italian ministerial recommendations.Results: The guidelines documents were generally in line with the ministerial recommendation. However, we found a lack of implementation in the specific training of health professionals. Most guidelines provided no risk stratification, nor specific procedures for different risk degrees or diagnoses. More than half of the documents did not report standardised tools for the assessment of suicidal risk.Conclusions: The public procedures on suicide prevention in Italian hospitals present general indications, leaving room for interpretation. Public procedures should be implemented with greater attention to the elements of judgement in the assessment of suicidal risk.KEY POINTSProcedures for suicide prevention are of uttermost importance for psychiatrist working in hospital.Standards in suicide risk evaluations are needed.Comparison between procedures can improve risk assessment and evaluation
Highlights
The suicide of a patient in a hospital ward poses notable problems and challenges
In 2008, the Italian Ministry of Health issued recommendation 4 (‘Prevention of suicide of patients in hospitals’) (Ministero della Salute, 2008), that provided measures a nd training processes to be applied in case of suspect suicidality and indicated the structural characteristics to be respected for suicide prevention in hospitals
When analysing causes and contributing factors of suicides, the authors noted a substantial lack of official documents and appropriate procedures for the management of suicidal risk in 34% of cases, proposing the development of recommendations as a possible solution
Summary
The suicide of a patient in a hospital ward poses notable problems and challenges. Besides the emotional impact on relatives and friends (Bellini et al 2018), suicide is a stressful event that creates burden on the healthcare workers, with possible consequences at managerial and organisational levels in the care team (Kaye and Soreff 1991; Knoll 2012). In 2008, the Italian Ministry of Health issued recommendation 4 (‘Prevention of suicide of patients in hospitals’) (Ministero della Salute, 2008), that provided measures a nd training processes to be applied in case of suspect suicidality and indicated the structural characteristics to be respected for suicide prevention in hospitals. This recommendation constitutes the most authoritative directive to date for the management of suicide risk in Italian hospitals. Suicide is a severe public health problem, in 2008 the Italian ministerial recommendation n 4 on the management of suicide defined key areas for the identification of suicidal risk in hospital wards. Public procedures should be implemented with greater attention to the elements of judgement in the assessment of suicidal risk
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