Nursing & Mental Health: Leveraging Data to Study Industry Issues

Matthew Davis, PhD, joined Michigan Minds for the National Nurses Week Special Series. Davis is an associate professor at the U-M School of Nursing and Department of Learning Health Sciences at the University of Michigan Michigan Medicine School. As a health services researcher, Davis studies health care and health policies, leveraging large sources of data to study important policy-relevant issues. 

Davis describes the significance of recognizing nurses and the work that they do, not only during National Nurses Week, but throughout the year. He reflects on the major role nurses play as the backbone of health care delivery, and considers his own experience of working in a medical center where he was initially struck by how much nurses did in the hospital. 

“Now I’m not a nurse, but I have had the privilege of getting to know a lot of nurses through the courses that I teach and the colleagues that I work with here at U-M… Perhaps now even more than ever, I think it’s a pretty significant time to appreciate a group of people that really does give enormously to our society,” he says. 

As the lead author of a study that found female nurses to be roughly twice as likely to die by suicide than the general female population and 70% more likely than female physicians, Davis provides insight on his research regarding the mental health of nurses. He explains that this research uses rates to compare risk, which may obscure the magnitude of the problem, though his research estimates that there about 650 suicides among nurses each year across the country. 

“By our estimates, there are about 3 million nurses compared to about 900,000 physicians in the United States. And it is surprising that, despite nursing being by far the largest health care profession, just how little was known about suicide risk among nurses.” 

Davis discusses how health care workers are at an increased risk as they have easier access to medications with an understanding of how to use them. In addition to easy accessible medications, he explains the stigma that health care workers face when it comes to seeking mental health support. There are dangers imposed by these challenges, he says, and offers suggestions about what can be implemented to reduce this risk. 

“I have to imagine that some of the most impactful things that can be done should kind of come from within the professions. There are some promising things being done and interventions being employed that are focused more on perpetuating peer-based mechanisms, trying to get nurses to recognize signs in each other and be on the lookout for signs of stress.”

With nursing being the largest health care profession, Davis’ study sheds light on the severity of the nursing crisis and emphasizes the need for change. During the podcast, he shares resources to support the mental health of nurses, health care providers, and others seeking support.

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