[danu3]

Hi Zenman, thanks for the info. I am learning...

-Dan

[Hellllllo Nurse]

We've all had the body mechanics and correct lifting classes, but there is no way to lift correctly when you are short staffed, and don't have proper equipment. So, this renders the body mechanics classes pretty much useless. Any realistic nurses' self defense classes would have to take short staffing, poor equipment and so on into consideration to really be effective.

[nursemike]

Originally Posted by Hellllllo Nurse

We've all had the body mechanics and correct lifting classes, but there is no way to lift correctly when you are short staffed, and don't have proper equipment. So, this renders the body mechanics classes pretty much useless. Any realistic nurses' self defense classes would have to take short staffing, poor equipment and so on into consideration to really be effective.

One of the great things about de-escalating is that it doesn't take many people--usually. If the subject (?) is alert and oriented, a show of strength might slow them down, but for a confused patient it's sometimes best not to have too many people involved.
I've been advocating for more training on this for as long as I have worked in healthcare, but I could see it easily doing more harm than good if the psychological side is not adequately addressed. Psychology of the caregiver, I mean. You'd have to have a lot of control over your instincts and keep your adrenaline in check. And it could be dangerous to the defender if he or she were overconfident.

I have joked that the most useful thing I learned in high school was wrestling, but there's a lot of truth in it, too.

[danu3]

Originally Posted by nursemike?

One of the great things about de-escalating is that it doesn't take many people--usually. If the subject (?) is alert and oriented, a show of strength might slow them down, but for a confused patient it's sometimes best not to have too many people involved.

This is where experience comes in, I guess. There are times when too many people are not good, it actually will escalate things. Then there are times when such a few extra people will de-escalate the whole situation.

I've been advocating for more training on this for as long as I have worked in healthcare, but I could see it easily doing more harm than good if the psychological side is not adequately addressed. Psychology of the caregiver, I mean. You'd have to have a lot of control over your instincts and keep your adrenaline in check. And it could be dangerous to the defender if he or she were overconfident.

I think what we want is confidence, not under/over-confident which is no good. Or maybe realistic confidence. Overconfidence can get a person in a riskier situation than is necessary. Underconfidence is not good either as the person feel helpless and unsafe in a working enviroment. Techniques usually should not be taught alone, there is always the psychology side as you mentioned. Guess one of the goal of "Nurskido" is to provide a safe enviornment for both the caregiver and and one who is being care for. With that goal in mind, lots of the martial art techniques actually will not be appliable except in extreme circumstances.

I have joked that the most useful thing I learned in high school was wrestling, but there's a lot of truth in it, too.

A few of my friends and I were in wrestling during Jr high school. We lost every single match. I do have the distingtion of losing every match but was never pinned (I always somehow managed to crawl out of bounds).

-Dan

[danu3]

http://www.nyp.org/nursing/nur_edu_wes_edu.html
Do a "find" (ctrl-F) for "defence" on this page. They have some kind of self-defence class. Might be interesting to talk to them for those who wants to start something in their unit. People take it every 2 years.

-Dan

[danu3]

http://www.eurozone1.btinternet.co.u..._workshops.htm

Here is one in Europe. Has legal stuff too.

-Dan

[danu3]

http://www.realtysecurity.com/nurse.shtml

Go down toward the bottom of the page, it mentioned OSHA recommend self defense type training. This can be use as a justification for a "security" program.

-Dan

[danu3]

http://union.boisestate.edu/womensce...elfdefence.cfm

Looks like Boise State's Department of nursing has the same concern.

-Dan

[nursemike]

I was talking to a co-worker who is in the BSN program, here. She said they do have a week or two of self-defense before they do their psych rotation. I believe that's a fairly recent development, but a step in the right direction.

[danu3]

Originally Posted by nursemike?

I was talking to a co-worker who is in the BSN program, here. She said they do have a week or two of self-defense before they do their psych rotation. I believe that's a fairly recent development, but a step in the right direction.

You happened to know the kind of self-defense they have to go through? Especially design for nursing, or maybe psych nursing? Or something generic?

-Dan