Nurses’ Experiences and Barriers in Providing Suicide Preventing Care for Patients at Risk of Suicide

Abstract

This literature review discusses the experience of nurses and the obstacles they face in offering care to patients who are at risk of suicide. Suicide is a significant health issue in the world, and nurses are frontline professionals who are expected to identify the risk, provide emotional support, and ensure the safety of the patient. The research question of this study was to summarise available evidence on emotional, educational, relational, and organisational variables that determine the capability of nurses to provide effective suicide preventing care. The literature review approach was qualitative as the studies that were reviewed were peer reviewed studies that examined the views of nurses, challenges and clinical experiences of nurses in prevention of suicide. The results showed that nurses experience high levels of emotional distress, which are fear, anxiety and uncertainty when handling suicidal patients. Lots of them complained that they were poorly prepared because of the lack of knowledge or skills in performing the suicide risk assessment or applying therapeutic communication. All these organisational issues including heavy workloads, time management, inadequate staffing, incoherent guidelines and disorganised care pathways, further limited their ability to deliver high quality and person centred care. Nevertheless, the nurses were effective in providing assistance to patients by means of identifying with the patient and working together in teams. The re-view concludes that suicide care can be improved by giving more education, providing better organisational support, and setting clear clinical procedures as well as the structures that facilitate the emotional well-being of the nurses. These areas should be rein-forced to enhance patient safety and to make sure that nurses are motivated and capable of their participation in suicide prevention.