Parasiticide: does discussing it help ?
Julie Stockbridge A&E staff nurse, John Raddiffe Hospital, Oxford
Julie Stockbridge looks at the psychosocial dimensions of nurses’ attitudes towards patients who present in A&E following an episode of self harm, and examines a parasuicide assessment tool used at Kings College Hospital, A&E department
Suicide. Even today, the word evokes an emotional response laden with anxiety and apprehension, and many societies condemn the act because of religious and moral values (1). Following a review of the Suicide Act in 1961, the law changed to decriminalise actual or attempted suicide (2). Despite this, suicide or deliberate self harm, is not deemed any more acceptable to much of the British population, and in some religions it is not only morally wrong, but perceived as an unforgivable sin. These moral and cultural arguments give rise to the potential for misinterpretation and misunderstanding of clients who have engaged in self harm.
Emergency Nurse.
1, 2, 19-21.
doi: 10.7748/en.1.2.19.s5
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