Variables Associated With Hospitalization Decisions by Emergency Psychiatrists After a Patient’s Suicide Attempt

This study explored the factors psychiatrists considered in deciding on hospitalization in a sample of 509 suicide attempters in a hospital emergency department in Madrid between 1996-1998. 6 variables were associated with an increased odds of hosptialization: intention to repeat the attempt, plan to use a lethal method, low psychosocial functioning before the suicide attempt, previous psychiatric hospitalization, a suicide attempt in the past year, & planning that nobody would try to save their life after they had attempted suicide. Psychiatrists appeared to rely on patients’ self-report in deciding on hospitalization rather than focus on demographic, diagnostic, or psychosocial issues. (46 refs.)