Adolescence. Nurse care following overdose.

A non-fatal drug overdose may be an actual suicide attempt or a suicidal gesture. The latter incurs a small risk of death but is intended to signal that something is wrong. Drug overdose is more common in girls than boys. Statistics may underestimate the actual incidence because of misdiagnosis or taboos about the label. Psychiatrists recommend hospital admission and psychiatric assessment for most adolescents who overdose. Once physical safety is achieved, the role of nurses is vague and barely documented. Nursing textbooks refer to the physical care required and the custodial role of preventing further injury while giving little coverage of the psychological care necessary. Peterson found that generally nurses demonstrated knowledge of psychosocial nursing but usually limited nursing to physical care. Yet, as another author points out, 'the seriousness of the patient's physical condition bears little relationship to the suicidal risk or the need for psychiatric treatment'. This paper focuses on the nurse's role in care.