Improved Mental Health Support for Patients With Self-Harm Injuries in the Emergency Department: Design and Development of a Future Patient Care Pathway.

The paper designs concepts but does not test them in patients, so it cannot show they improve self-harm care, suicide risk or discharge. Patient input was limited: four patients and two family members took part by telephone, and no patient attended the group workshops. In Workshop 2, the patient perspective was represented by a lived-experience ambassador, so it may not reflect many patients. The study was done in a single teaching hospital emergency department and psychiatric services in the Region of Southern Denmark, with the two departments 1 km apart and under different managers, so it may not fit other services. Many participants were health-care professionals, so staff feasibility concerns may have shaped the concepts more than patient outcomes. The paper reports no clinical outcomes after the concepts were designed.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The Region of Southern Denmark funded the work.

Do not read the two proposed nurse-led emergency department pathways as evidence they work. The paper only designed them with patients, families and staff, and the concepts were not tested for effect on self-harm, suicide risk or discharge.