Suicide attempt on our pedi psych unit. Please keep my coworkers in your thoughts.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

I'm trying to keep this vague for HIPPA, so if you see anything that may violate please let me know.

Today we had a suicide attempt on the unit. One of our patients is a young boy with severe OCD. He was at another facility and got sent here because he was too acute for them and had tried to commit suicide twice but they didn't inform us of this. He has had increasing anxiety and ritualization over the past couple days, and we had him on 5 minute safety checks...last night I had someone sit in his doorway until he fell asleep because I had this gut feeling he wasn't okay and I passed it on to the night charge nurse who agreed with me. Today after someone checked on him he wrapped a sheet around his neck and when they found him he was blue. He was revived and is doing okay. He just has red marks on his neck from where he cut the circulation off. This is hitting our nurses and counselors very hard. The day shift nurse who found him lost her sister after she committed suicide by hanging herself. It hit her the hardest. When I talked to her she broke down and burst into tears. Everyone on the unit has worked really hard to keep him safe and help reduce his anxiety. We very rarely have this high acuity of patients, and the unit is full and we have another patient who is a 1:1 for severe psychosis...we have not been able to break his psychotic episodes yet and it is really wearing on the staff to have him scream and swear and then have rageful episodes where he becomes violent to himself and others. He hasn't had a single lucid moment yet. Please say a prayer for my coworkers that everyone can get through this. This is one of the worst things that can ever happen on a pedi psych unit.

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Specializes in DOU.

Aww, that's so sad. We had a young girl do the same thing when I was a student on clinical rotation through adolescent psych. It was very disturbing. I wish you ALL well.

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I also remember this young woman who had to have one on one care while in the hospital when I was doing my clinical rotation, by looking at her you would never know that she was psychotic. My thought and prayers are with your whole team!

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Hi, SarahBeth,

Your whole unit is in my thoughts and prayers. I don't work peds; I'm in a geropsych unit. I had an offer for the kids' unit at a local psych hospital and while I was tempted because I love children, I went for the full-time offer. The peds offer was for part-time work. We have some high-acuity old folks who never stop, and it can be very stressful on our minds, bodies and souls. Nurses are special people, but I think psych nurses are extra special.

I hope everyone gets the help they need, especially you nurses!

Hang in there.

Best,

Linda

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Sending hugs and good thoughts.

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Specializes in Psych, ER, Resp/Med, LTC, Education.

Just make sure that you all take care of yourself.......sometimes when this happens its a good idea to bring in support for the staff....they have this available for most medical units.....ICU/Mde/Surg....for when they have something beyond what they are used to....talk to your manager to see what might be available. Yeah it's usually the role of supporting the others that we are used to being in but sometimes even we need help and support.

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Specializes in behavioral health.

Warm thoughts to you and your coworkers. I hope that you all continue to support each other

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My heart goes out to you, your co-workers, and young boy. *Hugs*

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/Ortho/Psych.

my thoughts and prayers are with your unit, the patient as well as the family. god bless you all as you go through this difficult time. thank god you all were doing your checks.

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Specializes in Adolescent Psychiatry.

Love and prayers for you, you're team, and the boy. :redpinkhe:redpinkhe:redpinkhe

No real suicide attempt on my peds ward since I've been there, (Thank God) but a few fights and some superficial self mutilating here and there. I know how I feel when this kind of thing happens when they are under my care, I can attempt to imagine how I will feel if one seriously makes an attempt. I hope I will be as observant and able to trust those gut feelings like you did.

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I am new to adolescent psych, but it sounds like you did everything you could to prevent this happening. Do you have free counselling (usually up to 5 sessions) from Employee Services? We recently had a presentation on this and they do in house counselling for the unit as a whole when something like this happens. Another good source of support for the team might be Pastoral Services. I think it is important for the unit to get counselling as a team. Of course the individual therapy services would also be helpful. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.
Just make sure that you all take care of yourself.......sometimes when this happens its a good idea to bring in support for the staff....they have this available for most medical units.....ICU/Mde/Surg....for when they have something beyond what they are used to....talk to your manager to see what might be available. Yeah it's usually the role of supporting the others that we are used to being in but sometimes even we need help and support.

I agree, I worked on an adolescent unit that had a successful suicide. It was devastating to staff to say the least. Our manager brought in the hospital's employee assistance program (EAP) professionals to help us deal with the loss and the impact it had on the staff overall. It was extremely beneficial. You might want to check if something like that is available to you. People outside our specialty often don't realize how difficult it is, expecially when you work with children who are so ill. Best wishes and Blessings to all of you :saint:

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