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

[NeoPediRN]

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.

[aloevera]

Bless you and all you do.....my thoughts are with you and your co-workers....

I have seen several attempts but none successful on my unit in the past few years....

[thegreenmile]

OMG! Deja Vu.....This exact incident just occured on our Ped Unit this month. I'm an RN on the Adult Unit and my neice is a MHW on the kids unit and is the one who found the patient hanging. I'm SO sorry your team endured such a situation and know all too well how you all feel. Just remember, you've done all you could in prevention and intervention. Bless you all.