Intervention strategies for people who self-harm

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2010) estimates that the incidence of self-harm in the UK has risen over the last 20 years and that the rates among young people are the highest in Europe. Tissue viability practitioners will at some time in their career be expected to plan the care for a person who has self-harmed. However, self-harm is poorly understood by many healthcare professionals. The quality of nursing care depends greatly on the quality of the assessment, therefore an accurate and holistic nursing assessment is crucial to ensure that people who self-harm receive appropriate care

Why do we bother grading pressure ulcers?

The use of grading tools for the description of the severity of pressure ulcers has been described for several decades. However, since their first use, many authors have identified considerable shortcomings with them, which have not improved significantly despite an increasing number of systems being available

Management of self-harm wounds

Self-harm may be used by individuals as a means to relieve distress and may be a coping and suicide prevention strategy. This article focuses on risk assessment of patients who may self-harm as well as the treatment of those presenting with self-harm wounds