Cases of suicide are increasing daily in many countries due to various issues, such as drug abuse and poor mental health. Efforts need to be put in place to curb this emerging issue. Despite this, suicide prevention strategies aimed at reducing the occurrences of suicide remain under-researched. What is available is nothing but mere recommendations and opinions of what is thought to help offer safe caring for suicidal clients.
Generally, educating the health care providers on matters concerning suicide and modifications on the surrounding for the suicidal clients will help create a safe environment for them. Ensuring that the environment is safe is vital since the clients will experience a physical barrier and be forced to postpone the act. Due to this postponing, health care professionals will have enough time to monitor these people, look for the best way to help them, and probably convince them otherwise. A safe environment may also involve setting up more mental health facilities, where people can consult therapists after experiencing psychological challenges. Additionally, the health caregivers should be fully equipped with skills and knowledge of dealing with suicidal clients so that their approaches can lead to the best results.
Upon admission, the nurse should evaluate the client and assess the possible risks of committing suicide and ascertain the risk level. Establishing the level of risk will help the professionals on how to deal with the client specifically. A complete safety plan must also be availed during admission to ensure everyone’s safety at a specific unit. Clients who are equal in the levels of risk should always be monitored from the same place, and they should never be mixed with those from lower or higher levels of risk since this would be more dangerous. Upon discharge, it is essential to develop a collaborative safety plan conducive to the environment that the client will return to (Navin et al., 2019). For instance, a nurse can contact the family members and any other support individuals who will interact with the client after discharge.
Correspondingly, one can provide necessary information to the telephone crisis lines and contact the family members requesting them to assist. For all the clients, regardless of the level of risk, monitoring after discharging is a must. Caring should not stop immediately after discharging, but the health caregiver should continue contacting the patient either by texting, via e-mail, or even face to face. The first contact should be made within the first 24 hours after discharging and the second one within the first week.
Patients should be restricted from accessing valuables that can lead to the actual killing. These valuables include weapons, such as guns or knives, drugs of any kind, or even ropes. Most suicidal cases are due to hanging, shooting, or taking unprescribed drugs (Navin et al., 2019). Therefore, anything related to these cases must be unavailable for these patients. On the other hand, they should be allowed to access books and magazines with information regarding improving mental health. Music is also used in such therapies as the psychodynamic approach. Additionally, clients should be allowed to have radios through which they can listen to their favorite music that may prevent them from having suicidal thoughts. Gaming gadgets can also be allowed since they can help keep the patients busy, thus avoiding negative thoughts.
Health caregivers should be ready for anything from such clients since most of them can be violent. Creating a good rapport with them is the best counter when dealing with suicidal clients. Certified nursing assistants are responsible for gathering medical supplies, taking patient calls, checking for vital signs, bathing and grooming the patients, and feeding them while recording the progress. The licensed practical nurse (LPN) works under the supervision of doctors. LPN will document vital signs, collect samples, ensure the patient’s comfort, administer medication, and report the status of clients. Registered nurses are on the frontline of medicine and should have adequate skills to offer quality services to all patients. They are responsible for delivering patient care of high quality in various settings, such as hospitals.
Reference
Navin, K., Kuppili, P. P., Menon, V., & Kattimani, S. (2019). Suicide prevention strategies for General Hospital and psychiatric inpatients: A narrative review. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 41(5), 403-412.