Clinical Support Hub, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Bolton, England.
Teesside University, Middlesbrough, England.
Emerg Nurse. 2021 Jan 6;29(1):35-40. doi: 10.7748/en.2020.e2035. Epub 2020 Aug 27.
Suicide is a major public health concern, with data suggesting that suicide rates may be increasing. Ambulance services receive thousands of calls each year related to mental health issues, with responding to suicide a common element of the job. This article uses a service evaluation to explore the data collected by the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) NHS Trust in relation to deaths by suicide and discuss how this can be used to improve pre-hospital and emergency department practice. The service evaluation used a retrospective patient cohort comprising calls made to NWAS over a six-month period from 1 January to 28 June 2019 inclusive. Of the 46,869 calls made to NWAS, 124 resulted in a death by suicide, with an average age of 43.6 years. The majority of deaths by suicide were by hanging. Investigation of the clinical notes for each case revealed that many of the individuals had mental health issues recorded in their documentation, and almost one fifth had previous contact with the ambulance service. Preventive interventions are important in supporting those bereaved by suicide who may be at increased risk of death by suicide.
自杀是一个主要的公共卫生关注点，有数据表明自杀率可能在上升。救护车服务每年都会接到数千个与心理健康问题相关的电话，而应对自杀是其工作的常见内容。本文使用服务评估来探讨西北救护车服务（NWAS）国民保健制度信托基金（NHS Trust）收集的与自杀死亡相关的数据，并讨论如何利用这些数据来改进院前和急诊科的实践。该服务评估使用了一个回顾性患者队列，包括在 2019 年 1 月 1 日至 6 月 28 日期间向 NWAS 拨打的为期六个月的电话。在向 NWAS 拨打的 46869 个电话中，有 124 个导致自杀死亡，平均年龄为 43.6 岁。大多数自杀死亡是通过上吊造成的。对每个案例的临床记录进行调查后发现，许多人在记录中都有心理健康问题，近五分之一的人曾与救护车服务有过接触。预防干预措施对于支持那些因自杀而失去亲人的人非常重要，因为他们可能面临更高的自杀风险。
