Camilla M Haw

..Little is known about complaints made by psychiatric patients. The aim of this study is to analyse complaints made by, or behalf of, inpatients at a large independent psychiatric hospital...

..More scientifically rigorous studies are needed to improve understanding of suicide clusters...

..The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity and its complications among inpatients in a psychiatric medium secure service for adolescents and young people...

..In patients with no past history of DSH the presence of personality disorder increases the risk of frequent repetition of DSH...

..The aims of this study were to examine life problems according to age, gender, suicidal intent and other patient characteristics in DSH patients...

..In the light of the increased risk of cerebrovascular events, many countries have issued guidelines concerning their use in treating BPSD...

..While dementia is more common in older people and suicide rates in many countries are higher among the elderly, there is some doubt about the association between these two phenomena...

..A second opinion may be helpful. Both target symptoms and side effects should be monitored and regularly reviewed...

..Drug misuse is related to self-harm and suicide. However, relatively little is known about deliberate self-harm (DSH) in patients with drug problems and whether drug misuse by DSH patients is increasing...

..Little is known about this practice or that of covert administration. This study aims to examine the nature, frequency, safety, reasons for and documentation of the administration of medicines in food and drink...

..According to European law a comprehensive patient information leaflet (PIL) has to accompany all medicines. In this study we examined the uniformity, adequacy and balance of information contained in UK antidepressant PILs...

..Little is known about deliberate self-harm (DSH) patients who live alone. We conducted a study of the characteristics of DSH patients who live alone using data from the Oxford Monitoring System for Attempted Suicide...

..Staff education and training and local audit are needed to improve standards and safeguard vulnerable patients in institutions...

..Analysis of the pattern of errors, as well as of contributory factors and suggestions for error prevention, may help reduce the frequency of medication events and hence improve patient care...

..When prescribing off-label, the prescriber must carry out a careful risk assessment of the risks and benefits for the individual patient. They should also inform the patient that the prescription is off-label...

..Relatively little is known about medication administration errors in mental health settings...

..The two most common factors cited by nurses as contributing to error causation were a busy, noisy environment and personal factors, such as feeling tired or unsupported. Physicians were cited as having contributed to some errors...

..Although largely not evidence based, some psychiatrists report a favourable risk-benefit ratio for benzodiazepines in the treatment of certain patients...

..Patients should be fully informed about their medication, and this includes information that the prescription is off-label. Pharmacists can assist this process. The off-label concept may be difficult for some patients to understand...

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..To study the use of medication in the treatment of inpatients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). To survey clinicians' views on the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guideline on BPD...

..The authors compared the characteristics of suicide attempters with and without comorbid psychiatric and personality disorders to identify factors that explain the high suicide risk associated with psychiatric comorbidity...

..They have implications for services for DSH patients and may have an impact on future patterns of suicidal behaviour...

..A specialist DSH service can effectively assess and treat patients following DSH. It is important that the service is accessible and acceptable to patients...

..Many older patients have difficulty in swallowing their tablets and capsules. Dose form modification, by crushing tablets or opening capsules, is often used by nurses to administer such medication...

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..Prescribing errors are fairly common in psychiatry. A small proportion of errors have the potential for serious harm. Pharmacy staff have an important role to play in their management...

..Lethality and suicidal intent, although related, have somewhat different correlates. Both should be considered when assessing DSH patients, but their relationship to further suicidal behavior does not appear to be straightforward...

..Older inpatients with severe mental illness may be at particular risk of osteoporosis because of factors including immobility, vitamin D deficiency and psychotropic medication...

..To investigate whether there are differences between the characteristics of deliberate self-harm (DSH) patients with and without a family history of suicidal behaviour...

..Good liaison between medical and psychiatric services is important. Specialist services may need to be developed to meet the particular needs of this patient group...

..Large, prospective studies of DSH in schizophrenia are needed to further define risk factors and to build on the findings of this review...

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..Suicide risk is greatly increased in schizophrenia. Detection of those at risk is clinically important...

..CONCLUSIONS: All patients presenting following DSH need to be carefully screened for depressive illness. Randomised controlled studies need to be conducted on DSH patients with depression to determine which treatments are effective...