OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers existing in medical settings behind the phenomenon that few suicide attempters were provided by mental health services when they got treatment in the general hospital ED.
METHODS: An anonymous and voluntary survey was administered among two groups: ED physicians and psychiatrists. Two tertiary general hospitals and one psychiatric hospital were chosen through convenience sampling. Suicide Behavior Attitude Questionnaire and a self-made questionnaire to evaluate barriers were used.
RESULTS: The response rate was 68.7% for ED physicians, and 87.0% for psychiatrists. ED physicians generally scored unfavorably than psychiatrists on many items in SBAQ (P < 0.001), but on the item about whether the suicide attempters should have access to mental health services, the median of the scores = 10 for both group (P = 0.059), meaning highly agree. Some consistent barriers could be summarized from the self-made questionnaire.
CONCLUSIONS: The majority of ED physicians in general hospitals still hold some misunderstanding about the suicide attempters, but they fully agree that the suicide attempters should have access to mental health services. The barriers for psychiatrists are clear.The barriers for ED physicians are complicated but workable.