Summary
Poisonings with suicidal intent: compliance with psychiatric evaluation prior to discharge from the Emergency Department
Bernardino Comas Díaz1, Guillermo Frontera Juan2, Alexandra Guiu Marti1, Gabriel Comas Bosque1, Jordi Puiguriguer Ferrando1,3
Affiliation of the authors
1Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. 2Soporte Metodológico e Investigación Clínica, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. 3Unidad Toxicología Clínica, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
DOI
Quote
Comas Díaz B, Frontera Juan G, Guiu Marti A, Comas Bosque G, Puiguriguer Ferrando J. Poisonings with suicidal intent: compliance with psychiatric evaluation prior to discharge from the Emergency Department. Rev Esp Urg Emerg. 2026;5:273-6
Summary
Acute poisoning with suicidal intent represents a relevant clinical safety issue in emergency departments, making psychiatric assessment before discharge essential. A retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary referral center during 2022 to evaluate compliance with this indicator and the subsequent clinical course of the patients. A total of 495 (23.1 %) out of 2,140 poisoning cases treated were associated with suicidal intent; 52 of these patients (10.5 %) left against medical advice or absconded, with no documented psychiatric assessment. Mean age was 44.2 years, and 57.7 % were women. Drugs, particularly benzodiazepines, and alcohol
were the predominant toxic agents, with co-ingestion in 69.2 % of cases. During the following three years, 21.1 % made a new suicide attempt and 36.5 % returned for poisoning. Four patients died. Access to psychiatric assessment should be strengthened, particularly after alcohol and benzodiazepine poisoning, and preventive measures should be ensured in cases of absconding and discharge against medical advice.