Variation between hospitals in inpatient admission practices for self-harm patients and its impact on repeat presentation

Conclusions No strong evidence was found to suggest medical admission reduces the risk of repeat self-harm. Models of health service provision that encourage prompt mental health assessment in the emergency department and avoid unnecessary medical admission of self-harm patients appear warranted. Psychiatric inpatient admission may be associated with a heightened risk of repeat self-harm in some patients, but these findings could be biased by residual confounding and require replication.
Source: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research