Thirty-two nurse facilitators are now authorized to provide a training for preventing the 10th leading cause of death in the US: suicide. The APNA Competency Based Training for Suicide Prevention “is so vital to both the development of our nurses and the care of those we serve,” says Tina Aown, MSN, RN-BC, CNML. “Through reinforcing the standard of practice and raising the standard of care, this training will save lives.” Aown is one of the 32 facilitators, or instructors, who will be delivering this training to their colleagues, institutions, and communities.
The APNA Competency Based Training for Suicide Prevention provides a framework for translating the 2015 Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Essential Competencies for the Assessment and Management of Suicide Risk into daily nursing practice. APNA’s position is that its dissemination will “improve outcomes in suicide risk assessment, prevention, and intervention, ultimately increasing safety.” Facilitator Meg Sherlock, RN, MA, PMHCNS-BC says, “This training offers a standardized, evidence based approach that can build clinical confidence and provide the nurse with a humanistic and effective response to suicidal thoughts and behaviors.”
Lisa Farmer, BSN, RN-BC, LMSW is a facilitator of the training and the director of psychiatric services at a large children’s hospital in Texas who will roll out the curriculum at her facility this month. “Sadly, major depression and suicide attempts are a very relevant occurrence in child/adolescent behavioral health,” she says. “We are including Emergency Department nurses who see patients at risk and medical surgical nurses who treat youth who have attempted suicide and are being medically stabilized prior to transfer to an inpatient psychiatric unit.”
"The skills learned in this class are needed by all nurses to build trust, encourage hope and save lives,” says facilitator Shirlee Davidson MSN, RN. “I hope schools, institutions and agencies throughout the country will support their faculty and staff members in attending these trainings to enhance their competence in suicide prevention. The need for this type of training is NOW!" Learn more about trainings at www.apna.org/suicide-prevention-training.