Introduction
Suicide has been noted to be on a sharp incline. This is a preventable health issue that can be easily solved provided keen research on the subject matter is conducted. Nurses are at position to engage and intervene with patients identified to have suicidal tendencies. However, most nurses lack the experience and expertise to treat, assess, or evaluate a suicidal patient. Therefore, training of nurses is necessary to recognize the potential that nurses have in reducing cases of suicide.
Discussion
Globally, one million deaths are recorded as suicide. In the U.S. alone, more than thirty thousand people take their lives annually. These statistics are quite astonishing as they regularly exceed the number of homicides in every year by double (Huh, 2012). Despite this, WHO terms suicide as a preventable cause of death that should not be ignored.
The measures taken to combat the issue include, prevention programs which use public awareness and campaigns targeted at suicidal patients have been put in place to combat the problem. The strategies are both primary, which aim to help those who have suicidal thoughts but failed to act on them, and secondary, designed to prevent repeat cases. Clearly, this is not enough if we wish to rid the medical health world of this problem.
Research shows that most of the people who result to suicide had visited a healthcare provider in their previous month before the act (Bolster et al., 2015). Therefore, it is reasonable to focus on healthcare providers to acknowledge cases of mental health disorders and put in proper measures to handle such cases. Registered nurses are considered to be the key to preventing suicides, at both the primary and secondary level because of their significant amount of time they spend treating the patients if they are properly trained to recognize the problem at an early stage.
Conclusion
Lack of education in suicide prevention and social beliefs regarding the issue were identified to be the main barriers in equipping nurses with the prowess to curb the pandemic. In this light, these should be carefully considered when developing and assessing nurses for the medical realm. This implies an inevitable change in the curriculum system for nursing students and for further research to offer more insight on the issue. If these virtues are observed, the battle against suicide can be turned to our advantage.
References
Bolster, C., Holliday, C., Oneal, G., Shaw, M., (January 31, 2015) "Suicide Assessment and Nurses: What Does the Evidence Show?" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 20(1).
Huh, J. T., Weaver, C. M., Martin, J. L., Caskey, N. H., O'Riley, A., & Kramer, B. J. (2012). Effects of a late-life suicide risk-assessment training on multidisciplinary healthcare providers. The American Geriatrics Society, 60(4), 775-780. doi:10.111/j.1532- 5415.2011.03843.
