Nurses Say BPD Gets Inadequate Care

Eighty percent of psychiatric nurses believe people with borderline personality disorder, or BPD, receive inadequate care, an Irish study revealed.

The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, found 98 percent of the nurses said service shortages played a role in inadequate care, and 83 percent said disagreements among staff on how to care for people with BPD was a factor.

Seamus Cowman of the Royal College of Surgeons and Philip James, a clinical nurse specialist from the Health Service Executive, found 27 percent of the nurses had daily contact with a patient with BPD — but only 3 percent had received post-graduate training in BPD and when there was training, and it tended to be a single workshop or lecture.

BPD is characterized by persistent instability in moods, personal relationships, self-image and behavior, which can affect all aspects of an individual’s life and can result in self-harm and a significant rate of suicide attempts, Cowman said.

Ninety percent of the nurses said they would be keen to receive further training in dealing with BPD, Cowman said in a statement.