Authors (including presenting author) :
Au Yeung CM, Ho YC, Chan YM, Wong YY, Ho KH
Affiliation :
Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital
Keyword 1: :
Suicide prevention
Keyword 2: :
Suicide attempt
Keyword 3: :
Stress relief tools
Keyword 5: :
Patient safety
Keyword 6: :
Paediatric wards
Introduction :
Paediatric health care providers are always at the front line of care for patients with physical health problems and also mental health crises. Any missed warning sign or unsafe ward environment may rapidly escalate into life‑threatening self harm or even suicide attempt during hospitalization. Hence, it is challenging for the paediatric staff to provide specific psychological care for patients with suicidal idea or attempt. In view of the increasing admission and incident related to emotion/ suicide attempt cases, a quality improvement program was conducted in order to enhance the clinical management of those cases.
Objectives :
It aims to enhance the awareness and knowledge of paediatric staff on managing patients with suicide risk, reduce potential dangerous items bring to ward, improve paediatric staff on handling patient’s personal belongings, ensure a safe ward environment and promote positive stress relief tools to the paediatric patients.
Methodology :
Suicide prevention program was developed comprehensively which included staff training, environment modifications, provision of stress relieve measurements (e.g stress relieve apps in ward ipad, calm down box), promotion of ward safety (e.g. safety leaflet and poster) and improvement on patient safety (e.g. increase of safety patrol round and strengthen of handling patient’s belongings).
Result & Outcome :
Comprehensive suicide prevention program is appreciated for upholding the holistic care to the paediatric patients. To ensure the trustworthiness of the program, staff satisfaction surveys and pre- and post-test of training were conducted for evaluation. The knowledge and competency on managing patients with suicide risk were assessed by the pre- and post-tests of suicide prevention training, which showed a significant improvement (nurses: pre-test 4.7 to post-test 9.0; PCAs: pre-test 5.6 to post-test 9.9). Paediatric staff are also highly satisfied with the suicide prevention measurements. Additionally, this program is effective to reduce inpatient suicide incidents, suicide incident dropped to zero after the program started. Regular review and surprise check audit will continue to maintain the quality of care. In order to magnify the positive effect of the program, a caring week was conducted for fostering a caring and empathetic culture in the paediatric department.
