Outpatient Operating Room, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Anhui, China.
Department of Pain, The Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, Sichuan, China.
Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2024 Dec;33(6):2170-2179. doi: 10.1111/inm.13386. Epub 2024 Jul 1.
Nurses are the frontline professionals caring for patients who have attempted suicide. When clinical nurses learn from medical records or nursing handover, or are proactively informed by patients or family members, that the patients they are caring for have suicidal tendencies, they often experience pressure and face challenges. However, little attention has been given to the experiences of the nurses caring for patients with suicidal intent on medical and surgical wards. We aimed to address this knowledge gap. The purpose of this study was to explore medical and surgical nurses' experiences, especially the internal conflicts they might experience while caring for patients who have a history of attempted suicide. A qualitative descriptive design and semi-structured interviews were used in this study. Twenty-three nurses were recruited and interviewed individually. Data were analysed by qualitative content analysis. The focus of this paper is to examine the emergent theme of intrapersonal conflict experienced by the participants. Nurses' experiences can be clustered into two themes: (1) Pity and annoyance and (2) Hard work does not necessarily pay off. Intrapersonal conflict was identified by participants as considerable fear and anxiety about the possibility of a patient's suicide, as well as a mixture of pity for and annoyance with the patients. Nurses feel sorry for such patients, but they are also annoyed by the extra work required to prevent suicide attempts in the ward. Additionally, having limited time and ability, they see that their hard work does not necessarily pay off and may sometimes lead to punishment. Our findings raise serious concerns about the adequacy of the knowledge of the nurses, their competence and their difficulties in caring for such patients. In addition, there is a need to provide them with appropriate on-the-job education and immediate emotional support relevant to caring for survivors of suicide attempts.
护士是照顾有自杀企图的患者的一线专业人员。当临床护士从病历或护理交班中得知，或被患者或家属主动告知，他们正在照顾的患者有自杀倾向时，他们往往会感到压力和面临挑战。然而，对于照顾有自杀意念的内科和外科病房患者的护士的经验，关注甚少。我们旨在解决这一知识空白。本研究的目的是探讨内科和外科护士的经验，特别是他们在照顾有自杀未遂史的患者时可能经历的内心冲突。本研究采用定性描述性设计和半结构式访谈。招募了 23 名护士并对其进行了单独访谈。采用定性内容分析法对数据进行分析。本文的重点是研究参与者经历的内在冲突这一新兴主题。护士的经验可以分为两个主题：（1）同情和烦恼，（2）努力不一定有回报。参与者认为，内在冲突是对患者自杀可能性的极大恐惧和焦虑，以及对患者的同情和烦恼的混合。护士为这些患者感到难过，但他们也对病房预防自杀企图所需的额外工作感到烦恼。此外，由于时间和能力有限，他们认为自己的努力不一定有回报，有时甚至会导致惩罚。我们的研究结果对护士的知识、能力以及照顾此类患者的困难提出了严重关注。此外，有必要为他们提供与照顾自杀未遂幸存者相关的适当在职教育和即时情感支持。
