The first national investigation of nurse suicide in more than 20 years shows that both male and female nurses are at higher risk than non-nurse counterparts.
The dataset used to identify nurses who died by suicide does not delineate their practice setting, and urges long-term care administrators to consider incorporating suicide prevention programs into workplace wellness initiatives.
The lead author also encourages them to work diligently to strip the environment of unnecessary rules and stressors.
“It is mathematically impossible for nurses to complete every assigned duty every day,” Judy Davidson, RN, said. “Over-regulation increases stress, burnout, depression and suicide risk.”
Researchers from the University of California-San Diego used data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Violent Death Reporting System database, as well as national and state nurse licensing data.
Suicide incidence was 11.97 per 100,000 person-years among female nurses and 39.8 per 100,000 among male nurses.
Women and men in the general population were far lower (7.58 and 28.2 per 100,000 person-years, respectively).
The method of nurse suicide more frequently involved pharmaceuticals than firearms (35.1% vs 33.7%, respectively) compared to 9.1% and 51.5% in the general population.
From the August 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
