What is it about?
Patients who self-harm regularly present in Emergency Departments. Nurses have a duty to provide quality care to these patients. In most cases, this is hindered by staff negative attitudes and a lack of understanding of self harm aetiology. Though services have come a long way in an attempt to improve practice, an educational approach is required to better equip nurses for such challenges.
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Why is it important?
The rising number of self-harm presentations in emergency departments is a public health concern in England. In addition, evidence suggests that a large percentage of people who self harm do not seek support. In order to encourage access to services, nurses need to adopt a reflective approach with particular focus on service user experience and removal of barriers which may hinder access to services. An integrated approach is required where both mental health professionals and A&E nurses work together to continuously improve service provision and address issues related to negative staff attitudes.
Perspectives
Initially, this was meant to be a very brief article. However, i soon realised after exploring evidence base that i could not fully explore it in summary. Even after completion, i still felt there were issues related to this pertinent topic that i should have explored in-depth. My role as a Psychiatric Liaison Nurse, working in Emergency Department afforded me the opportunity to address most of the issues raised here from a unique angle. I soon realised that in order to fully address the issue of negative attitudes from staff towards people who self harm, a multidisciplinary approach was required. Also, my former role as a Criminal Justice Liaison Nurse also prompted me to invest in a multidisciplinary approach and i strongly believe that future success of services can be shaped this way.
Sithandazile Masuku
Northumbria University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Self-harm presentations in emergency departments: staff attitudes and triage, British Journal of Nursing, December 2019, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2019.28.22.1468.
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