Evaluation of attempted suicides: a comparative study of staff in a general hospital and consulting staff in a psychiatric hospital.

The study group consisted of medical staff (n = 53) working in the emergency department of the general hospital in Helsinki, Finland, which treats almost all self-poisonings in the area. Some of the staff in the Department of Psychiatry formed the comparison group (n = 30). The study method was an interview based on real cases of attempted suicide. The previous four cases taken for consultation by the Department of Psychiatry were chosen. The interview was based on the consultation form used in the Department of Psychiatry of Helsinki University Central Hospital. The answers of the original consultant were compared to the results from the two groups. The study group could well assess the somatic severity (lethality) of all suicide attempts, whereas the comparison group often assessed them to be more severe than the original consultant. There were no noteworthy differences between the groups concerning the assessment of the psychiatric severity (the intent to die) of the suicide attempts and the necessary after-care. The comparison group considered all suicide attempts as understandable acts, whereas there was a distribution in the results from the study group. In general, on the basis of the results, it can be said that the staff in the psychiatric hospital were significantly more cautious in their assessments than the staff at the general hospital.