• Pawan Sharma, Anup Raj Bhandari, Rabi Shakya, Nidesh Sapkota, Sulochana Joshi, Gaurav Bhattarai, Bigya Shah, and Kedar Marahatta.
• Department of Psychiatry, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Lalitpur, Nepal.
• JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2024 Jul 31; 62 (276): 526531526-531.

IntroductionSuicide is a major public health concern globally as well as in Nepal. It is important to have baseline data regarding suicide attempts to develop a prevention strategy. This study aims to describe the methodology used to develop a suicide registry and use it to collect data from patient visiting emergency or psychiatric outpatient department with suicide attempts in a tertiary care hospital.MethodsThis is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted retrospectively after obtaining ethical approval (Reference number: drs2005211371) from institutional review committee. Total sampling was done from the database covering the period from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2023. The database was in the form of suicide registry that was developed after reviewing the existing data of primary health care centres, private hospitals, and tertiary care centers and a series of discussions among mental health experts. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analysis was done.ResultsAmong the 248 patients, there were 109 (43.95%) male and 139 (56.05%) female. There were 209 (84.27%) patients who attempted suicide inside home, poisoning was seen in 90 (36.29%) and 183 (73.79%) had impulsive intention. Out of total patients, 59 (23.79%) had prior communication and 84 (33.87%) had previous attempts, 109 (43.95%) patients had impulsive attempts as diagnosis and 75 (30.24%) had depression.ConclusionsAs per the suicide registry, most of the patients attempted suicide inside home and the most common method used was ingestion of poison.

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