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Nurses to give sterile blades to self-harmers
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
Story.
Now I make no bones about the fact I used to have a serious self-harm problem, which makes me delighted that someone has come out with a senisble suggestion about it for once.
People are going to harm themselves regardless, in the same way a heroin addict is going to shoot up regardless, so its about time that this fact was acknowledged. As the experts rightly point out, it is far better to allow these people to harm themselves safely, with some sort of medical supervision, than it is to take away all their blades and let them cut themselves on rusty tin cans, or worse.
I for one am all in favour of this proposal. My only worry is that quite a fair few nurses and doctors in my experience don't understand SH, and have no sympathy for what they see as deliberate attention-seeking. I would go further than these proposals and make the provision of clean blades compulsory to anyone who asks for them. This would prevent a lottery when it comes to having a sympathetic nurse or not.
It doesn't surprise me at all that doctors stitch wounds without anaesthetic because the wounds were self-inflicted. I've come across that sort of attitude so many times with doctors in my life, and nurses aren't any different. Which is one of the main reasons people with mental illnesses can often find it hard to get sensible treatment, and at the very best get fobbed off with ADs.
A very good idea though. Just enforce it properly.
Now I make no bones about the fact I used to have a serious self-harm problem, which makes me delighted that someone has come out with a senisble suggestion about it for once.
People are going to harm themselves regardless, in the same way a heroin addict is going to shoot up regardless, so its about time that this fact was acknowledged. As the experts rightly point out, it is far better to allow these people to harm themselves safely, with some sort of medical supervision, than it is to take away all their blades and let them cut themselves on rusty tin cans, or worse.
I for one am all in favour of this proposal. My only worry is that quite a fair few nurses and doctors in my experience don't understand SH, and have no sympathy for what they see as deliberate attention-seeking. I would go further than these proposals and make the provision of clean blades compulsory to anyone who asks for them. This would prevent a lottery when it comes to having a sympathetic nurse or not.
It doesn't surprise me at all that doctors stitch wounds without anaesthetic because the wounds were self-inflicted. I've come across that sort of attitude so many times with doctors in my life, and nurses aren't any different. Which is one of the main reasons people with mental illnesses can often find it hard to get sensible treatment, and at the very best get fobbed off with ADs.
A very good idea though. Just enforce it properly.
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Comments
I can see how it might be seen as a good idea if you thought the situation was hopeless..............but it's also not a very good idea for someone who has the credibility of a doctor or nurse effectively saying "theres fuck all we can do, go cut".
If it comes with interventions and a message of "this is temporary until we get you to see someone for real help" and of course that real help must be available as well.
Given the general atttitude of it's either "biology" and therefore "we can't help you, have some drugs" or "your a attention seeking knobhead" this isn't too likely.
I agree, if those condiyions are met it.
I am on the fence - my desire to do no harm is in conflict with my desire to do no harm! If I give them blades - they will harm themselves. If I don't they are going to do it anyway with anything sharp they can get their hands on.
I agree that it should be closely monitored and not
Patient: "Can I get a scalpel"
Nurse: "Yes here you go"
Patient: "Thank You"
Nurse: "You are welcome"
I hope that if it is passed by Congress, that nurses in this position are trained and talk with the individuals in question.
I am for this, to a certain extent. Only if they are closely monitored by experts.
I sympathise with the idea and the logic, but am not comvinced that it will actually reach those who are most at risk through self harm. I'd rather the emphasis was on providing more effective therapies (or better preventative measures) for those with low level mental illness.
I too have come across unsympathetic medical staff - partly because the wounds are self inflicted and doctors and nurses are busy enough with accidental injuries in A&E, and partly becuase they know there is little they can offer. If we're talking about inpatients being given blades on a ward in order to cut themselves, then I would definitely not agree. If this is to be an outpatient service, I would be worried about the over medicalisation of self harming such that sharps bins or blade exchanges become the focus of self harm treatment.
So would I.
But it isn't. And it never will be.
Self-harming doesn't sell votes. Herceptin does. And that is the key problem with any politically-operated health service, and always will be.
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And mostly because they simply couldn't give a fuck.
Stupid teenager, go away and grow up is the attitude with too many medical staff. Those who SH are perceived as attention seekers. I've heard far too many doctors and nurses say that, particularly when they think nobody is listening.
Why?
It appears to be working on mental health wards.
I don't think they would be.
But the best thing the GP who treated me did was show me how to dress my wounds properly, and she always checked them when I went back to her. All doctors should be like that, but she is the only GP that I have ever seen who has been like that.
A few years back, I visited a friend every week in hospital who attempted to commit suicide. She was detained under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act. She had a very bad problem with self harming. On a few occasions when I visited her, she begged me to bring fresh blades into the ward for her. This was a horrible thing for her to ask me. I never brought any in. I didn't want to be responsible for her hurting herself.
People kept in mental health wards cannot get hold of anything sharp or dangerous. The most my friend got hold of was a few staples out of some leaflets and sometimes used her lighter to burn herself.
I think this is a stupid idea. How are people supposed to get better if nurses are giving them blades to carry on cutting? I can completely understand where they are coming from in terms of safety but surely nurses should be encouraging patients to deal with their problems in a different way?
So you'd rather that self-harmers cut themselves with dirty blades, knives, etc?
I do see your point though. At least the nurses are showing them how to bandage themselves properly.
Just read the article (Kermit's link) and is it just me or where it mentions something about the nurses showing the best places to cut, are they promoting SH?
And how does that make it any different? Both carry some sort of risk.
By you saying they don't carry the same risk implies you justify one but not the other.
It's not because people are going to do it anyway, that we need to help them...
What's the next step?
If you try to kill yourself often, they will provide you with a manual and a kit?
Also providing them with sterile blade is nice for the sterile part, but the blade itself will probably be much better and cut better than a crappy blade and might allow the users to create deeper damage to himself than he would with a basic kitchen knife.
You really need to ask why blades should not be available on mental health wards?
I guess if the seriously mentally ill patients, those with violent tendances, are separated there could be a good case.
As for the original post, this really isn't much different to a needle exchange, is it?
The risk of cutting skin is local inflammation and/or infection and when you say "dirty" blades, you mean non-sterile blades. For injecting drug users, the risk is all blood borne diseases (not limited to HIV and Hep B/C). For self harmers, this risk is negligible and the biggest problem for them is the scarring.
So if you're trying to suggest that clean blades will somehow make self harming a lot safer for those who do it, I think you are putting a weak argument.
In other words, what is gained from providing a sterile blade to a self harmer?
Inpatients is another matter though as they have little opportunity to get hold of their own clean blades. I'm not sure where I stand on this one. But if I ever found myself in this situation I would self-harm using my teeth to bite into my skin.