drriley

I did follow the thread -- and then went back to the start to add my own comments, so that no one ever thinks that these things go silently unchallenged. I note that the incredulity, empathy, etc that you refer to are, as evidenced by the posts themselves, a 20/20 matter. Beyond this, however, is the fact that you mention the thread is about suicide/psych patients, by way of example. Again, I refer you to the cancer patient comparison -- I doubt that you or anyone would have ever used cancer as a "gallows humour" attempt at dealing with the stress of the job in the same manner. Nor would anyone target acute cardiac patients, seriously ill paeds patients, etc. etc. The sad fact of our society is that psych patients ARE viewed, by many, in the very way that I described.

I was hoping I'd see Dixie mentioned ... and sure enough. :-) http://imdb.com/name/nm0518728/

From a patient care and legal/liability perspective security should be posted at the door, or in the room, of a suicide-watch pt in a med/surg setting if nursing staffing levels do not allow for an appropriate level of monitoring. And your hospital security staff should have training in this specific type of work. It is inappropriate to ask the patients family/friends to monitor the patient. In a short-staffed ICU, you would not ask family/friends to monitor the patient and come and find a nurse if the heart monitor starts going off.

I have absolutely no understanding of a health care professional who would have the attitude that a psych/suicide patient is taking time away from people who "really need it" or "really ARE sick." And the idea that an attempt suicide pt. has any more "created" his/her situation than the AMI pt. who is overweight and drinks and smokes is ridiculous. Patients do not suffer depression, suicidal ideation or attempt suicide because it is "fun". These are sick people who deserve every bit as much professional care, attention and concern as any other patient who crosses your path. It is a tragedy of our society and health care system that psychiatric patients are VERY often treated as second-class and/or as a nuisance. Imagine the outrage if a cancer patient were treated as a nuisance/interruption in the ER, a waste of bed space in the ICU, and disposable when it comes to funding of adequate inpatient and outpatient resources. Isn't there a saying about a society being best judged by how well it treats its most vulnerable?