39517 Suicide Prevention

Course overview

Discussion of suicide prevention including the associated risk factors, protective factors for suicide prevention, connectedness and its influence on preventing suicide, and the nurse’s role in suicide prevention. Each year in the U.S., more than 44,000 people die by suicide, and suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S. Hospitalized psychiatric patients are at high risk for suicide, and the risk remains elevated immediately following hospitalization as well. Nurses have the ability to play a pivotal role in the prevention, assessment and management of individuals at risk for suicide. Clinical preventive services, including suicide assessment and preventive screening by primary care and other healthcare providers, are crucial to assessing suicide risk and connecting individuals at risk for suicide to available clinical services and other sources of care. The American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) has developed essential competencies in order to ensure that nurses are able to effectively assess for suicide risk, provide suicide-specific psychotherapeutic interventions, monitor and supervise at-risk patients, and assess the outcomes of all interventions. In addition, one of the goals released in the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention is to provide training to community and clinical service providers on the prevention of suicide and related behaviors. This program discusses suicide prevention, including risk and protective factors, to enable nurses to more easily identify individuals at risk for suicide and intervene appropriately, increasing suicide prevention.