New nurse here...slapped today by patient.

I would still fill out an incident report even if you don't want to press charges. It would be smart to have it on file. Do it ASAP.

Absolutely you should press charges. I feel bad for you that your preceptor didn't guide you accordingly. If I saw this happen to an orientee I would stick up for them and the only thing I would explain to the patient is that they would be talking to the police shortly.

It is because of things like what the poster above said that we even start to question these things. We are trained to take abuse in nursing school. They do a far better job of training us to be abused than they do to train us to be competent, caring or skilled. If fact, it seems to be the focus of most nursing schools. There is no reason you should tolerate any amount of abuse in any area of nursing.

Thank god, most of my patients have been given meds by anesthesia already so even if they swing at you, their aim is off! I've been slapped on the hand twice..the first time was an old man with dementia and the second was a little old lady who was also confused and swearing at me in Italian. Also, in Pacu and in the OR, the restraint rules aren't as strict.

OP, I think you should pursue this..if that woman was A&O x3 then there is no excuse for what she did. Sorry that this happened to you.

I had an alzheimers pt that busted one of my CNAs in the jaw a few months ago. I felt bad for her. It didn't really hurt her physically very badly but I think it did a number on her emotionally. I told her that it was okay if she avoided that room for the rest of the night. She filled out an incident report; he ended up in 4 point restraints with Haldol IM every few hours- everytime he started looking at me funny (I've had a lot of experience with alzheimers pts and I know "that look" very well). I explained to the family what had happened and why he was in restraints and they understood...thankfully his daughter volunteered to stay the night with him the next night (familiar faces help a LOT).

Just the other night something similar happened to a coworker of mine. It ended up taking 5 of us to hold that pt down to put her in restraints. It was pretty sad...the (80+ y/o) patient was yelling, "Mama! Mama! I want my mama!!!!" and crying throughout the whole thing. I actually got bit in the hand several times by the pt while trying to get the soft wrist restraints on (not hard enough to break the surface of the latex glove though). My coworker was in tears afterward she felt so bad about it.

I've been kicked, slapped, punched, bit, and all kinds of things when I worked LTC, so I feel your pain. Sometimes it is hard to accept when you feel like you're doing everything right. I remember an alzheimers pt grabbing a badge lanyard that my coworker had around her neck. The alzheimer's pt tried to strangle her with it...I'm a fairly strong male and I was barely able to stop this little old lady from choking my coworker out. My coworker was really upset about it - mainly because she got choked, but partly because she had (up till then) felt like she had a good rapport with this particular patient. It just goes to show you how unpredictable confused people can be when stressed. I compare it to a cornered rat...they just lash out...over the dumbest stuff sometimes, like putting a shirt on or something like that (if they feel threatened for whatever reason).

I'm just glad I work in the hospital now and I have the tools to deal with this stuff properly (like, responsive physicians and equipment and meds easily available). I'd certainly press charges if I was in your shoes. Maybe they wouldn't stick through an actual prosecution, but the message would be sent that patients should not behave in that manner. Ridiculous.

We are only allowed to wear Lanyards that have quick release snaps on them for the very reason you mentioned.

I found out yesterday that if we are verbally abused we are supposed to file an incident report. Ours are computerized and not the least user friendly. I'd never have time to get through a shift if we did all the incident reports we should.

OP, battery is battery, and it's against the law.

Please tell us that you've filed charges against this person. If nothing else, it will get the attention of the batterer and the idiot she's married to.

I'm sorry mulan, but in the society that we live now, it is very possible that the patient's legal team would fight that she was in bed, defenseless, etc, etc, and come up with a series of lies. We know the story and we believe the OP on what she said. Before our eyes this patient is not a victim (especially with the update) but the OP has to make sure all her bases are covered. In no way I'm saying or implying that she shouldn't file a claim, or that we as nurses should brush it off and move on. I think the post by greensister proves what I'm trying to say.

My advice is that u just go to a corner and pray for the patient!! Why? Because when a dog bites man, it is no news and when a man bites a dod it is news! When a pt hits a nurse, its no news but when a nurse hits a pt, it'll hit d headlines!!

It's definitely assult. I worked for 4 years on a med-surg floor and got hit, kicked, slapped, etc by many confused, alzheimers patients, but this is someone who is A&Ox3 and an adult who should have known better. I once got punched by a lady who was completely alert and oriented (albeit coming down off of meth), who flipped out because I wouldn't let her smoke pot in her room. I grabbed the nearest security guard, calmly told her that the police would be notified, then called 911 and the house supervisior (I was charge that day). When the police came, the lady freaked out and tried to jump out of the 3rd story window. Ends up that there were warrents out for her arrest and her boyfriend's too, who happened to be in the room watching the whole thing. Made the papers and everything! I'll tell you what though, ever since then, whenever I'm threatened by a patient, I tell them what I did and I always get "oh, you're that nurse I heard about". Never been hit since!