are area are inadequate. The level of nursing observation required for each patient must be determined (Lloyd, 1995).
Suicide prevention is dependent on the ability to recognize high-risk patients to allow for appropriate levels of supervision and specific treatments according to the nature of the psychiatric illness. Persistence of suicide risk should prompt a review of patient diagnosis, treatment, social factors, and danger signals. Danger signals include the following: misleading clinical improvement, particularly with unresolved situational problems; manipulative behavior; alienation; low staff morale with frequent changes or inadequate staffing levels; pre-discharge or absence without leave; and epidemic suicides (Lloyd, 1995).
Other risk factors include a history of attempted suicide (particularly if the method was intrinsically dangerous), age, unemployment, recent bereavement or separation, social isolation, chronic physical illness, and substance abuse. Most suicides occur during the first week after admission and the period prior to a pl
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