Male and female nurses are not only at greater risk of suicide, but the number of victims hasn’t budged, suggesting that it’s time to proactively identify and help those who need support, investigators say.
Female nurses have had a higher risk of self-inflicted death than the general population since 2005, and male nurses since 2011, Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2005-2016 National Violent Death Reporting System confirms.
While the United States’ overall suicide rate has risen in recent years, investigators said they were surprised to find that this was not the case among nurses. They interpret the steady numbers as a sign that the issue lacks attention.
“Unexpectedly, the data does not reflect a rise in suicide, but rather that nurse suicide has been unaddressed for years,” said senior author Judy Davidson, DNP, RN, research scientist at UC San Diego.
The researchers are attempting to draw attention to UC San Diego’s suicide prevention program, called Healer Education Assessment and Referral (HEAR), as an example of successful proactive action. The internal program offers risk factor education and confidential screening to aid in identifying, supporting and referring clinicians for untreated depression and/or suicide risk.
More information about HEAR program outcomes were published Monday in the online edition of WORLDviews on Evidence-Based Nursing.
