Abstract
Introduction
Emergency nurses are on the front line of patient care for suicidal persons, yet many
nurses report feeling unprepared to effectively manage suicidal patients owing to
a lack of suicide-specific training. The purpose of this study was to examine the
suicide-specific training experiences of emergency nurses and evaluate how training
relates to burnout, confidence, and comfort working with suicidal patients.
Methods
Emergency nurses at critical access and community hospitals completed an anonymous
online survey during work hours. The survey included questions about training experiences,
burnout, confidence, and comfort working with suicidal patients, perceptions of the
quality and interactive nature of training, and desires for future suicide-specific
intervention training.
Results
Group comparisons among the 117 emergency nurses revealed that those who received
evidence-based/expert-delivered training reported greater confidence, comfort, and
perceived ability to treat suicidal patients and lower burnout than those who received
informal or no training. Those with informal training reported greater confidence
and ability to treat suicidal patients, but similar levels of comfort and burnout
as those with no training. Mediation analyses showed that training was associated
with greater comfort working with suicidal patients through its effect on increased
confidence. A majority desired additional suicide-specific training.
Discussion
Evidence-based/expert-delivered professional training in suicide intervention is associated
with improved confidence, comfort, and perceived ability to care for suicidal patients
and lower burnout. Providing evidence-based suicide intervention training may improve
quality of care for suicidal patients by improving emergency nurse confidence and
comfort for treating these high-risk patients.
Key words
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Biography
Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI. ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2653-082X.
Biography
Nicholas Grande is an emergency medical technician and was an undergraduate pre-med student at the time this project took place at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI.
Biography
Marcie Talbott is the Director of Nursing for NWWI Emergency Services and Instructor of Nursing for Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Eau Claire, WI. She is a member of the Wisconsin ENA chapter.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 03, 2023
Identification
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© 2022 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
