NURSES NARRATIONS ABOUT SUICIDAL PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS

Seventeen Norwegian and two Danish registered nurses specialized in ps ychiatric nursing narrated their experiences in caring for suicidal ps ychiatric inpatients. The interview texts were transcribed and interpr eted using a phenomenologic-hermeneutic method, inspired by the philos ophy of Ricoeur. Two main themes with subthemes were found: Distance, which included compassion without emotional identification, mistrustin g the patient, being responsible for the patient's actions, feelings o f guilt, rejecting the patient, being rejected by the patient, and foc us on the nurse, and Closeness, which included compassion with emotion al identification, trusting the patient through contact, responsibilit y for the patient making his or her own agenda, being rejected by the patient, temporarily, listening to the patient, and focus on the patie nt. These findings were interpreted in relation to the ethical demand made on the nurses in their interaction with suicidal patients.