[syamkumar]

Nurses are at the higest risk of being harressed.They are dealing with the unhealthy.Physical,Mental... For the predator who used to prey in the home ,in the work Place ,in the office Nurse is just another prey.The cure is the classical one A stern "NO".CALL for help,Unite, report to authorities.If any member in the health team betray ,It some times happens.Then the predator get the upper hand and the work place will become a hell.YES "TOGETHER WE STAND AND DIVIDED WE FALL"

[rhenmag9]

Harrasment?? right....some patients makes excuses to get medicines or have their BP taken, but will asks you a lot info..and then set you in a date...??? sad to hear but that is "TRUE.."

[Marylou1102]

Many years ago I was working on a med/surg unit and was accosted by a middle aged man who happened to be a very well known pillar of the community. He pinned me into the corner of his room while his roommate blocked the door. I managed to get out and those I told refused to believe me. They didn't want me to tarnish this mans reputation in the community.

Many years later I was working in a LTC when a man in his early 40s was admitted post AA with severe head injury. While he was a less than upstanding citizen before he had ablsolutely no inhibitions now. He would grab any female staff member in the most private of places. Many complaints went to the administration and were witnessed by them. (Both the administrator and the nursing director were women) Staff was simply told to keep their distance. This went on for several months until a male member of the dietary department witnessed this resident inappropriately touching an elderly, confused female resident. Then they couldn't get him out of the facility fast enough.

So in my experience it seems that as much as society has changed in the past 25 or 30 years, some things never change. Nurses will never be given the status we deserve until the perception of the nursing profession changes.

[wincha]

I went to peds around 15 years ago. I got tired of the patients who felt like they could say or do what they wanted. Once a male patient punched a pregnant nurse because he didnt' want to get up and walk. No he was not confused at all and only in his 40's recovering from a cabg. After that I decided to work with peds which I could tell them what they needed to do and the kids wanted to try to do what we asked them to do. hh

[wincha]

Originally Posted by Kabin

Hmmm, I just read that work place nurse abuse and harassment is recognized by both JCAHO and OSHA as a major problem. With that in mind, I'm surprised any good healthcare facility wouldn't immediately deal with it.

interesting my son was physically abused and chemically restrained(against policy and he was not violent) at a residential center and i tried to file a complaint to jcaho since it was accredited by jcaho and no one could help me. we got him out of there but no one was interested in the abuse.

[kadokin]

Don't know if this will help, but here's my idea:
-Every time, and I mean EVERY TIME a staff member is assaulted by a pt., write an incident report and send them to employee health or whatever agency your facility uses for OJT injury.
-Every healthcare facility should have a process for this. They want to have workplace injuries checked out immediately. I'm sure it is mostly to rule out any culpability for blood-borne illnesses/back injuries, but take advantage of this.
-I know, I know. We don't have time in our busy day to be writing up incident reports and going to be examined for injury. Make time. If it means you have to go overtime, so be it. PROTECT YOURSELF. Believe me, if you suffer an infection/debilitating injury from a pt assault, your facility is not going to hand over workmen's comp. $ out of the goodness of their heart. EVERY incident MUST be reported and followed up.
-If you and your colleagues start to report and follow up on every pt. assault, I am guessing the "people-in-charge" are going to start to wake up and realize they have a VERY BIG problem on their hands and start to take measures to decrease the incidence of pt assault. If they have any sense at all, they will realize it will be cheaper in the long run. Their reports and numbers will not speak well of them if employees are continually being injured and being examined for those injuries. The increased incident reports will be a black mark on their record, too, I'm sure.
-If this doesn't work, shake the dust of this facility off of your shoes and move on.
Hope this helps!

[kadokin]

Originally Posted by rhenmag9

Harrasment?? right....some patients makes excuses to get medicines or have their BP taken, but will asks you a lot info..and then set you in a date...??? sad to hear but that is "TRUE.."

WHAA? HUH???

[DLM64]

I feel the same way about patients that know their rights, and yet we can get the crap beat out of us and there is absolutely nothing we can do. Although we had a resident that did hit a CENA, and nothing happened until he went after the Administrator and DON. I mean, we did all the proper paperwork and observations, but gee whiz!!!

[kadokin]

Originally Posted by DLM64

I feel the same way about patients that know their rights, and yet we can get the crap beat out of us and there is absolutely nothing we can do. Although we had a resident that did hit a CENA, and nothing happened until he went after the Administrator and DON. I mean, we did all the proper paperwork and observations, but gee whiz!!!

Nothing you can do? See above post.

[mistoff]

I had a patient 2 days ago, capable up getting up & using a commode, being assisted to the bathroom or using a bedpan but no, she wanted the ED staff to put a diaper on her in the ED so she could just sit and s... herself!!! I went in and gave the patient her options to which she called me a ***** (like I haven't been called that a million times in 20 years!!) and many other obsenties at the disruption of the department. She tried to take a couple swings within a few inches of my face to which I calmly warned her that she would be charged if she assaulted me or any staff member.

I will not tolerate patients being verbally abusive to my staff. And because they have a psychiatric diagnosis does not make it okay to verbally abuse staff. For this patient, she wouldn't listen to her options and continued to be abusive so the police were called and she was escorted from the property.

You are right. Most management and physicians do not support the front line staff. Think about it!!! When was the last time a physician came to your side while a patient was being abusive to staff???