Citation

Puskar K, Urda B. Issues Ment. Health Nurs. 2011; 32(12): 785-788.

Affiliation

University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.3109/01612840.2011.599476

PMID

22077751

Abstract

Verbal and written no-suicide contracts are commonly practiced by psychiatric nurses in inpatient psychiatric facilities. However, evidence is sparse regarding whether no-suicide contracts are effective tools for maintaining patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of the verbal and written no-suicide contracts, discuss the resulting implications for psychiatric nurses on inpatient units, and suggest alternative clinical practices for inpatient psychiatric nurses to utilize to increase patient safety.

Language: en