Citation

Palmieri G, Forghieri M, Ferrari S, Coppola P, Colombini N, Rigatelli M. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 92.

Affiliation

University Of Modena And Reggio Emilia, Via del Pozzo 71, 41100 Modena, Italy. (gasparepalmieri@yahoo.com)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964020

Abstract

Training in the recognition and management of suicidal risk is of crucial importance for prevention. The opportunity to involve primary care professionals in detecting and approaching patients with suicidal risk has been already assessed as a preventive strategy (Storm project Appleby et al. 2000) with encouraging outcomes. The aim of our preliminary study is to compare competency in assessing and managing the suicidal patient in different professional groups (general practitioners, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, Accident and Emergency professionals). 50 psychiatrists, 50 general practitioners, 40 A&E professionals (doctors and nurses) and 40 psychiatric nurses completed the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI-2) (Neimeyer et al 1997), a scale consisting in 25 clinical vignettes describing suicidal or severely distressed patients, and an original questionnaire on risk and protective factors in suicidal patients. Significantly statistical differences were identified in the subgroups: psychiatrists scored significantly higher than all the other groups and psychiatric nurses scored significantly higher than general practitioners. We tested the utility of SIRI-2 as a valid instrument to evaluate the level of competence in assessing and managing suicidal patients in primary care. Our findings suggest the necessity of further training for general practitioners in this field.

Language: en