1. If an off-duty nurse knows a person is suicidal, must they report it? I'm hearing two sides to this from two different nurses; one says they aren't obligated to and the other says it's their duty to (and could lead into my next question)
2. Is there any grounds for any sort of punishment if they don't report it? The nurse who told me they must report it stated that they could lose their license if they didn't do anything.
To answer "the only question you want to know" - your license is safe in any case. As it was said, there is no legal obligation on you as a nurse to report to anyone some other person's suicidal thoughts.
By person do you mean patient? Not reporting a suicidal person isn't grounds for loosing your licence. Are you trained in psych? Also, you can be suicidal and have no plan, have a plan but no means to enact it, and have a plan and have means. Oviously the last is a serious risk. If you think the person is totally serious and likely to attempt then take steps to help that person. If its a patient at work then i hope you reported it to all relevant parties and placed them on 1:1 at least.
This is a great topic to discuss! Each state has their own guidelines of practice - so rules will differ place to place. In my state - the rules are not very clear to address this specific issue in the specific scope of nursing.
I called a local suicide hotline and spoke with the manger on duty to find out if legally - we as nurses are obligated to report such a thing - knowing that children could be affected. I explained a situation I had experienced to her where a mother of 3 young children had texted myself and one of our mutual friends of her suicidal ideology (plan in place, unknown if the intent was there to enact it) while in tears. In asking her if she was safe, she said so - and then I asked if she was ok, - she said she wanted to kill herself. I asked her if I needed to have the cops come over to check on her - she hung up. Our mutual friend went in person, and spoke with her - getting the number to her therapist and notified the therapist of her intent. The manger after hearing all this - stated as nurses, we have a moral obligation to report such a thing, be it to the police, to a therapist, family, etc...and acting in goof faith. I asked about the guidance of it - and she stated that the best way would be to find out from the Board of Nursing Ethical Guideline and Policies for the state you are practicing in. I hope this is helpful to some extent for all of you!
KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN
1 Article; 2,675 Posts
To answer "the only question you want to know" - your license is safe in any case. As it was said, there is no legal obligation on you as a nurse to report to anyone some other person's suicidal thoughts.
The moral obligations are totally up to you.