New nurse here...slapped today by patient.

So, my question is this....at what point does a nurse actually look at a situation as being assaulted. If this lady slapped me across the face in the middle of the grocery store, I would have called the police.

I want to know what happened after you left that room. What did the patient say? What did she do? What about her husband? The nursing student? Your boss? your preceptor? What did you do after you left the room?

I am sorry to say you will have to look out for yourself here. I was hit by a patient during a bed bath when I was in nursing school, and when I told my instructor I was uncomfortable going back in this man's room, she proceeded to assign me to him every day for the rest of my rotation to teach me a lesson. She also told me, in a later rotation, in front of other students, that she didn't understand why I "had such a problem with his personality." I didn't have a problem with his personality, I had a problem with getting hit! Moral of the story is that, as much as it sucks, you are probably the only one who will stand up for you. If she was A&Ox3, I'd do whatever you can to at least avoid taking care of her again, even if you don't press charges.

This is why I work with babies.

If you had to do it all over again would you have pressed charges or been more adamant about not going back into the room?! Just curious as I am a NS now and it seems students are really afraid to stand up for themselves for fear of failing. It's a shame that safety doesn't always come first. Teach you a lesson?! I guess it was on how to be abused.

In my case, the man was somewhat confused, so I would not have pressed charges. It wasn't that I *blamed* him or didn't like him, I just didn't feel safe in there. This was my very first med-surg rotation, like three weeks into nursing school. I just had NO idea what to do. I also tried to explain to my CI that because of certain events in my life, I have a very, very strong reaction to a man hitting me. No dice. She didn't try to help at all, didn't try to explain how to minimize the possibility of him hitting me OR figure out how to not let it bother me so much. Just get back in there. Oh, and two weeks later she made me put a Foley in him. I'm lucky he didn't try to kick me in the throat.

I was hit by a patient during a bed bath when I was in nursing school, and when I told my instructor I was uncomfortable going back in this man's room, she proceeded to assign me to him every day for the rest of my rotation to teach me a lesson.