THE ESSENTIAL
- 24.9% of nurses have resorted to poisoning to commit suicide.
- The use of antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opiates to kill themselves was also more common among healthcare professionals.
“Recent research suggests that nurses may be at high risk for suicide. However, there are few studies on this topic,” wrote researchers from the University of Michigan (USA), in work published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. To get an estimate of the incidence of suicides among nurses compared to the general population, they analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control from 2007 to 2018. A total of 159,372 suicides were recorded. “Associations between clinician type and method of suicide and toxicological examination results at death were calculated”the authors said.
The suicide rate among nurses is twice as high
According to the results, 2,374 nurses had deliberately killed themselves and 857 suicides were reported among women who are doctors. Scientists found that suicide was twice as common among nurses as among other women. Suicide rates among women, per 100,000 people between 2017 and 2018, were 17.1 for nurses, 10.1 for doctors and 8.6 for the general population. “It’s much higher than I expected,” said Matthew Davis, lead author of the study, in a statement.
The stress involved
“Healthcare systems are placing increased demands on healthcare professionals. Even before the emergence of Covid-19, nurses were reporting significant stressors in the workplace, including reduced staff, increased complexity of care and additional bureaucratic duties. Nurses have worked tirelessly to care for critically ill patients and have had to deal with their own exposure to the virus. The nurses I work with regularly face more difficult challenges at home. home that put additional stress on them, such as caring for children or parents,” developed Christopher Friese, co-author of the study.
