Are No-Suicide Contracts Effective in Nursing Practice Essay

Are No-Suicide Contracts Effective in Nursing Practice - Essay Example There are different thoughts in a patient’s head and psychologically the act provides the patient with a different mindset. In a sense, it assists in the fuelling positive thoughts in a patient. The no-suicide act also provides patients with a means of attaining assistance. Many patients suffer from severe emotional stress and they are unsure of what to do with their lives. The act provides the patients with reasonable steps they can take when they begin to feel suicidal. The use of the suicide act hinders different interventions as much faith may be placed on this method. Many studies state that nurses become less competent in the presence of a no-suicide contract. As the nurses are reluctant to implement other approaches, they may overlook obvious and much better intervention methods Apart from being able to detect early suicidal warning signs, the nurse should also be able to detect warning signs in the patient’s history (depression, drug abuse, recent divorce or unemployment, psychiatric disorders). The nurse should refer the patient to psychiatric department if he or she detects warning signs of suicide (verbalization- â€Å"I can’t live like this any longer†; reckless behavior; giving away valued possessions and abuse of narcotics) 8. Please develop 3 nursing interventions for the patient’s plan of care that are each directly related to the identified nursing diagnoses. Please include a rationale for each nursing intervention. Establishment of a therapeutic relationship with the patient. The nurse must be fully aware of the patient’s condition in order to understand the history of the problems and the different approaches taken in the past. The nurse must also understand the patient and his or her attitudes towards the current situation. Validation of the patient’s thoughts towards his or her condition. This is useful in establishing the relationship between the nurse and patient. It also assures the client that the