RESUMO
In many psychiatric emergency rooms such as ours, patients are not routinely searched for weapons. A study was conducted over a 2-month period, to begin to identify the intuitive cues or clinical factors involved in the decision to search a patient. Twenty-six patients who were searched were compared to 590 who were not searched. Among the patients who were searched, those who carried the means for self- or other-directed harm were compared to those who did not. Possible mechanisms involved in the decision-making process to search patients are discussed.
Assuntos
Serviços de Emergência Psiquiátrica , Transtornos Mentais/diagnóstico , Serviços de Saúde Mental , Violência , Adulto , Feminino , Armas de Fogo , Humanos , Masculino , Transtornos Mentais/psicologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Risco , Tentativa de Suicídio/psicologiaRESUMO
To evaluate the influence of weight loss on the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), we studied 61 patients with major depressive disorder as defined by the Research Diagnostic Criteria, 59 healthy normal volunteers, and 16 volunteers who lost weight by dieting. Nonsuppression on the DST was not correlated to weight loss in the depressed patients. Of the healthy volunteers, 12.5% converted to nonsuppression status. This conversion rate is not significantly different from nonsuppression rates in the normal population. Implications of these findings are discussed.