Letter to the Editor
Overcrowding as a possible risk factor for inpatient suicide in a South African psychiatric hospital
Submitted: 28 January 2015 | Published: 01 August 2015
About the author(s)
Christoffel Grobler, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South AfricaJohanita Strumpher, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Ruwayda Jacobs, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Full Text:
PDF (52KB)Abstract
About 4% of all suicides are estimated to occur while being an inpatient in a psychiatric facility. Staff generally assume that an inpatient suicide reflects a failure on their part to recognise the patient’s suicidal intent and whether it could have been prevented in any way.
Inpatients who commit suicide do not seem to be a homogenous group, but some risk factors have been identified, including being young, single, male, unemployed, abusing substances, schizophrenia and personality- and affective disorders. Number of admissions in the previous month also appears to be a risk factor.
When the numbers of inpatients are high, more violent incidents occu. Although literature presently do not suggest an association, overcrowding in psychiatric inpatient wards should be considered a risk factor for inpatient suicide.
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Crossref Citations
1. Exploring mental health nurses’ perceptions on factors contributing to psychiatric readmissions in Eswatini: A qualitative study
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International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences vol: 11 first page: 100157 year: 2019
doi: 10.1016/j.ijans.2019.100157