Is a clinician’s “gut feeling” enough to identify self harm?

The guidelines summary recommends against using risk assessment tools to predict future self harm or suicide. 1 Although evidence suggests these scales are poor predictors of risk, 1 can we simply rely on the clinician's subjective judgment and "gut feeling"? Most patients who self ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ 2012-01, Vol.344 (7839), p.25-25
Main Author: Ellis, Charlotte L O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Humans
MANAGING SELF HARM
Physicians
Self
Self destructive behavior
Self-Injurious Behavior - therapy
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Summary:The guidelines summary recommends against using risk assessment tools to predict future self harm or suicide. 1 Although evidence suggests these scales are poor predictors of risk, 1 can we simply rely on the clinician's subjective judgment and "gut feeling"? Most patients who self harm present to the accident and emergency department and will probably be assessed by junior doctors with limited experience of such problems. 2 The considerable time pressures that most of these doctors face make this a potentially high risk clinical situation.
ISSN:0959-8138
1468-5833
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.e142