• Jaana Suokas, Kirsi Suominen, and Jouko Lönnqvist.
• Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland. jaana.suokas@hel.fi
• Crisis. 2009 Jan 1; 30 (3): 161-5.

BackgroundThe staff in the emergency room of general hospitals are under heavy work pressure and seem to reveal negative attitudes toward suicide attempters. From earlier studies there is indirect evidence that the attitudes of staff who have the opportunity to consult a psychiatrist are less negative.AimsThe study compare the attitudes of emergency room staff in a general hospital toward patients who had attempted suicide before and after establishment of a psychiatric consultation service.MethodsAttitudes were measured on the Understanding Suicidal Patients (USP) Scale. A total of 100 participants returned the questionnaire.ResultsGeneral understanding and willingness to nurse patients who attempted suicide did not increase.ConclusionThe results suggest that providing a psychiatric consultation service did not significantly affect attitudes among general hospital emergency room staff toward attempted suicide patients during its first year of operation, but in general, the emergency room staff was content with the opportunity for psychiatric consultation.

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