Researchers report success with nurse suicide prevention effort

Researchers at the University of California San Diego report success in sustaining the Healer Education Assessment and Referral (HEAR) suicide prevention program first piloted with nurses in 2016. HEAR combines education, assessment and treatment referral for nurses with reported suicidality. The program screened 527 nurses over three years, provided support to 176 and referred 98 for treatment. Writing in the Feb. 3 online edition of Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, the researchers note an increase in requests for group process debriefs following significant events, which they say demonstrates a developing culture “open to reaching out for mental health treatment.” (Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing article, 2/3/20)