Suicide as an individual event as well as a social phenomenon attracts great interest and attention in various spheres, both in the immediate environment of the self-murderer and in broader public. The definition of suicide differs according to authors and changes in the course of historical development. Most definitions are identical in two essential aspects of suicidal behavior. These are a voluntary individual's intention to terminate his life and a purposeful behaviour leading to death. Suicide is the conscious and intentional killing of oneself. About 95% of suicidal attempts are just acute intoxications by any amount or kind of a poisonous substance. Acute intoxication belongs to a group of serious conditions threatening human health and life. Acute poisoning is one of the frequent admission diagnoses in the Departments of anesthesiology and resuscitation and Intensive care units. 80% of poisonings are caused by drugs. Damage to the organism by ingesting a poisonous substance is the more significant the longer is the interval between the exposure to noxae and the professional medical assistance provision. For the future fate of the patient the medical equipment and the competence of health professionals who provide intensive care for these patients is crucial. After stabilization of all physiological functions, balancing inner environment of the patient and after the time that may have led to late complications of intoxication, the following phase of treatment is provided by psychological and psychiatric interventions. Determination of suicidal risk among the most common challenge in urgent psychiatry is suicide risk assessment. The aim is to prevent further suicide attempts. The objective of the thesis was to determine, with regard to the competence of nurses, the predominant character of patients´ experience after intoxication, and also the reasons for aggressive behavior of intoxicated patients towards the nursing staff. The third objective was to establish a standard of nursing care of intoxicated patients. The research was designed as explorative with the goal to map the nursing process in intoxicated patients and to provide information for the establishment of the standard of nursing care, which should include both somatic and psychological aspects. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined. The outcomes of the thesis should lead to detection of the most frequent problems in nursing care for patients with intentional intoxication with suicidal tendency and the establishment of nursing standards to help improve the care of these patients.

Psykologer är en utav de yrkesgrupper som löper störst risk att under sin karriär mista en patient i suicid. Trots det saknas svenska studier på psykologer och deras arbete med suicidala patienter. Föreliggande studie syftade därför till att öka kunskap och förståelse för psykologers föreställningar om patientsuicid samt hur de upplever att det talas om det. Sju semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med psykologer som inte hade egen erfarenhet av patientsuicid. Dessa analyserades utifrån en tematisk analys, vilken resulterade i fyra teman: Mellan förnuft och känsla, Två sidor av samma mynt, Ensam är inte stark och Individen bakom statistiken. Resultatet visade att enskilda psykologer och organisationer (universitet och arbetsplatser) hanterar och talar om suicidalitet på olika sätt. De olika aktörernas förhållningsätt bottnar antingen i förnuftet, i känslan eller i båda delar. Arbetet med suicidala patienter karakteriseras av oförutsägbarhet där kollegorna utgör ett viktigt stöd för psykologen i detta arbete. Därtill framkom att både den enskilda psykologen och samhället i stort har en vilja att humanisera den suicidala patienten. Slutligen verkar psykologers möte med suicidalitet vara ett underprioriterat ämne, vilket är framträdande både inom forskning, utbildning och på arbetsplatser. / Psychologists are one of the professions that are at a higher risk of losing a patient to suicide. Despite this, there is a lack of Swedish studies focusing on psychologists and their encounter with suicidal patients. Therefore, the present study aimed to increase knowledge and understanding for the notions that psychologists have regarding patient suicide and their opinions about how it is being talked about. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with psychologists who themselves had not lost a patient to suicide. The interviews were analysed through a thematic analysis which resulted in four themes: Between sense and sensibility, Two sides of the same coin, Alone is not strong and The individual behind the statistics. The findings showed that psychologists and the organizations (universities and workplaces) they were or had been a part of, were handling and talking about suicidality in different ways. The approach these different actors had to patient suicide was based on either sense, sensibility, or both. Working with suicidal patients is characterized by unpredictability thus highlighting that colleagues make up an important source of support. Furthermore, results showed that both individual psychologists and the society at large have a desire to humanize the suicidal patient. Finally, psychologists' encounter with suicidality seems to be an under-prioritized area, which is prominent in both research, education and in workplaces.

Reproduction de : Thèse d'exercice : Médecine. Médecine générale : Paris 12 : 2007. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. f. 66-69.