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Deliberate self-harm: the impact of a specialist DSH team on assessment quality
- Authors:
- WHYTE Sean, BLEWETT Andrew
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatric Bulletin, 25(3), March 2001, pp.98-101.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
This research was a repetition after 5 years of a prospective case note audit, looking at the impact of a recently established deliberate self-harm (DSH) assessment team on the quality of DSH assessments at Kettering general hospital. Results showed that a specialist DSH team achieved improvement in the quality of psychiatric assessments for the majority of patients who harmed themselves. Assessments of mental state by accident and emergency (A&E) and medical staff before referral to the psychiatric team remain problematic. Setting up a specialist team to assess patients who harm themselves can improve the quality of the psychiatric care they receive, but emphasis must still be placed on an adequate assessment of mental state by medical and nursing staff in A & E and on medical wards.