ED Safety: Assaults up, drug calls up, security down

Specialties Emergency

Published

Safety has always been a concern where I work and it is becoming more and more of a pet peeve issue for me. Even the national media is reporting that assaults against ER staff are on the rise. The down economic is forcing some hospitals to downsize security staff and measures. We have a hospital security department but they don't carry tazers, handcuffs or other tools. We have locks on our doors outside but anyone inside can let people in, and the locks don't always work. I work in a trauma center in high-crime area so we have shootings, gangs, stabbings etc. Our administration seems to make security a low priority and the local police don't like to do anything. It's a frustrating situation. I would like to see nurses lobby for laws that would increase charges or add a special charge for assaulting ED staff. I'm not sure how well that would work though, especially when the police don't like to do anything under the current laws. I also think that adding safety measures to a union contract would be a good idea. How do your hospitals protect you? We recently tried to get a metal detector for our ED but the administration doesn't want to put it in because it would reflect negatively on hospital aesthetics. :madface:

Just up the road from me in West-by-God-Virginia, it's a felony as well. Cross the line into Virginia, as many of our patients do, and it's a misdemeanor. I was dismayed to read a comment on a local news site under an article about the push in Virginia to make it a felony ... a person opined that a class 1 misdemeanor (assault/battery) was sufficient punishment, as long as the person was prosecuted to the extent of the law, and that there was "no need" to change it. Heh. Come work with me and get hit/kicked/grabbed/spit upon, and then let me know how you feel.

Of course, we've been distracted by the serial stabber recently. I hope they really caught the right person, but I'll continue to let security escort me to my vehicle!

Well, with circumstances like that you just make the self-defense measures worse than the judicial punishment. ;)

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Specializes in ED.
Simple...YOU are responsible for your personal safety. From your post, it's obvious that your hospital management could care less about the safety/security of its employees.

Lobbying for laws will result in....more laws. Go figure!:cool: More/stricter laws will have ZERO effect on an idjit's willingness to assault you in your ER...or on the street. Do capital punishment/life imprisonment laws result in fewer fatal assaults? Nope. Please be careful to differentiate between "feel good" security measures, versus those that will TRULY make a difference.

In my not-so-humble opinion, either plan on protecting yourself (& be willing to accept the non-PC consequences for doing so), or move on to another employer who values its employees.

I understand your view and I'm not disagreeing with you that personal safety is a personal responsibility, but it isn't and shouldn't be entirely your own responsibility. Yes, some laws are "feel good" laws and do not deter crime, but there are more things that both employers and state governments can do to protect health care workers. Restricted access and metal dectors do prevent dangerous situations, that's why they use them in court rooms and on airlines. Also, people do know of the strict laws when it comes to taking weapons on planes and these laws do prevent at least some dangerous situations.

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Specializes in ED.
enforcement not legislation.

i don't know your story. what are the police failing to do?

i send people to jail all the time. we have a great rapport

with the local po-po. if it's a case of someone acting out it's

bu-bye! off to the gray-room hilton with them.

if it's a problem with mental health patients that become violent

i would blame your doctor for not handling their emotions "chemically".

i have been in hospitals with great security and poor security.

i have concealed-carried when appropriate in the er to protect

myself and others. the threat to you and me is very real.

(oh, and a glock 23 in .40cal carries well under scrubs)

take an active role in your own survival. you are hired to provide

care and comfort not lose your front teeth. if you can't handle it

get out of the way. run. hide. protect yourself first!

it is just not worth it...

glock23a.jpg

i agree. unfortunately our police department does not enforce much of anything, and in my state you can't even own an antique gun without a permit. even if you own one you could never, ever, under any circumstances even think about bringing it out of your house without it being locked and dissembled with ammo in a separate box. but that's a separate rant. it's a tough situation when the law does not protect you, and the law prevents you from protecting yourself.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Ironically, this just landed in my inbox as part of today's ENA NewsLine:

The Associated Press: Nurses fear even more ER assaults as programs cut

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Specializes in Emergency.

More and more relevent. Had a shooting IN my hospital this pass month and now this crap at John Hopkins. I have a CCL and I carry my 38 special in my purse, against hospital policy. Oh well they can fire me. I'd rather be alive and unemployed than have something happen to one of my coworkers or myself by some wack job with poor coping skills while standing there like some fool waiting on one of our crippled, unarmed, elderly, overweight security guards to come hobble to my "assistance." Clearly my hospital doesn't think my safety is a priority but I do. The day after the shooting in my hospital, after administration put out a press release stating they would be tightening visiting policies, I had a pt with 5 visitors in her room while our policy allows for 2. We had extra police on duty but only for about 4 days. Today when I got there, there were no police on duty. Please remember that the hospitals we work for are all big businesses and we are just the money making peons for them.

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Specializes in ER.

The ER I work in employes Police officers for security, but they expect them to leave the ER and do rounds around the hospital, checking doors and locking and unlocking doors. Seriously? I don't think the administrators have a clue as to the real danger we face every day in the ER. We are on the outskirts of the city but all kinds of patients get "dropped off" in the ER.

We have been asking for hospital wide access to be restricted, especially at night as well. But to no avail. I agree with other posts, nothing will happen until something major happens. Unfortunate.

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Specializes in ER.
More and more relevent. Had a shooting IN my hospital this pass month and now this crap at John Hopkins. I have a CCL and I carry my 38 special in my purse, against hospital policy. Oh well they can fire me. I'd rather be alive and unemployed than have something happen to one of my coworkers or myself by some wack job with poor coping skills while standing there like some fool waiting on one of our crippled, unarmed, elderly, overweight security guards to come hobble to my "assistance." Clearly my hospital doesn't think my safety is a priority but I do. The day after the shooting in my hospital, after administration put out a press release stating they would be tightening visiting policies, I had a pt with 5 visitors in her room while our policy allows for 2. We had extra police on duty but only for about 4 days. Today when I got there, there were no police on duty. Please remember that the hospitals we work for are all big businesses and we are just the money making peons for them.

Its amazing how something major has to happen before they make any changes...there should always be a visitor rule and a security guard at the entrance. Especially with all the HIPPA concern, you would think they would guard the patients better?? frustrating...:mad:

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