According to Takahashi et al. (2011) patient suicide is an
extremely serious incident for medical professionals. Fang
et al. (2007) mentioned health care professionals undergo
significant levels of psychological stress during suicide events.
The findings of this study indicated that inpatient suicide
affected the nurses negatively because they became shocked,
frustrated, traumatised and depressed. Shimozono (2003)
suggests that successful suicide of a patient represents a
critical event for a nurse who was in charge of or had some
contact with the patient. It is evident that the sight of the
deceased bodies after the incidents traumatised the nurses.
Some developed visual hallucinations, emotional trauma and
depression. The nurses blamed themselves for inpatient suicide,
felt incompetent, inadequate, guilty and responsible for
the patients' death. They felt that they failed both the patient
and the family. Uys and Middleton (2010) indicate that common
reactions experienced by caregivers are guilt, anger, selfblame,
sadness, fear and feelings of professional failure. On
the other hand Fukuyama (2004) indicates that the nurse may
blame him/herself and experience feelings of worthlessness
associated with inability to prevent the patient's death.