Beat up by a resident, what to do??

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  1. This is a discussion on Beat up by a resident, what to do?? in Geriatric Nurses / LTC Nursing, part of Nursing Specialties ... hello to everyone, last week another aide and i were in a pt.'s room changing him, and his room...

    by Aug 1, '04
    hello to everyone, last week another aide and i were in a pt.'s room changing him, and his room mate came in. he is about early 70's and the only problem he has ,is beginning stages of dementa, w/short term memory loss. he likes to keep the over head light on, which keeps the other pt. awake all night(he has told the nurse this) so, for the last couple of weeks , we have been turning the bathroom light on, and leaving the bathroom door open, and drawing the other guys curtains. he has been fine with this. well on this night we again,explain to him(like we always do, well, he just flipped out!!! i was standing over the other guys bed and this man came up behind me and put his hands around my neck and started choking me, the other girl was rolling his head up, and she jumed up and said 'you can't be doing that' ,then he turned and went after her, hitting her in the face and upper body, well, i got up and got between them two ,blocking his blows, we were not close enough to the call bell(i was going to yank it out of the wall) so i just kept going in the direction of the door, all along yelling, he just kept hitting us both, and all we could do was block his blows, we got at the door, and i was yelling help,help. he got a hold of my left arm and grabed it and twisted it behind my back and pulled up on it really hard, it stopped me dead in my tracks, it hurt so bad. thats when the nurse came running down the hall, telling us to walk away, she said just walk away, of course, i couldn't move. i was in so much pain. he saw her, and turned around and walked back in his room.

    i was already on light duty ,from a earlier work-related injury. i have 2 bulging disc in my lower back, l4-5 and l5-s1 plus, one in my neck c6-7 (so, i'm sure that really made the one in my neck better!)

    we both filled out an incident report, i ended up going to the er the next day, thank god nothing was broke, just sprained, they put my arm in a sling. which really helped with the pain.

    we were both really scared to come back to work the next day, the other girl ended up leaving early b/c she was crying pretty bad, they gave us a hard time, telling us it was part of the job. we are use to getting smacked, hit, spit on, cussed at, but never have we been beat up, this was totally different. it took 2 days for them to even call the doctor, they put him on zprexia(sp) which takes awhile to even get in the system.

    they did call the doc back (after i threw a fit) and he has 1/2 mg for ativan prn. he's a pretty tall man, about 170-180lbs a half of mg hasn't even phase him. all they are going to do is watch him. we are not allowed to refuse to work with him. the next day, he went up to the other girl and asked her if she was one of the little devils that beat him up (short term memory??ya, right! ) he also came up to me and said he was sorry for what he did to my arm, i said ok, and then he said "but, you know you brought it on yourself" i said no, mr. *** i didn't. i got in trouble for saying that to him. all we want is, for him to be out of there. we are a nursing home. he takes care of himself. he does everything for himself, he gets a pension, and of course, i;m sure it's turned over to the nh. so they are getting all his money, and we do nothing for him.he needs to be in assisted living facility. what's wrong with this picture??

    i live in virginia, can anyone tell me what are our rights as a cna?? we both feel like we are not being supported by our employer. it's just not fair. i have been searching the net for any info(that's how i found this wonderful board) i need some help, and just don't know where to go. i'm afraid they may fire me if i push this, but we did not do anything wrong here. sorry this is so long, but it felt good getting it out, you wouldn't belive how much stress this has caused us both. please, can someone help me. please pm me. thank you for listening!
    Last edit by Joe V on Aug 19, '12 : Reason: spacing
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    by purple_angel24521 Aug 1, '04 11:19 pm
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  3. 40 Comments so far...

  4. Aug 1, '04 by
    contact the state asap. he has already attacked staff-and gotten away with it-another resident is next. (i say gotten away because i get the impression that he was taunting you??).
    state regulation require that residents be safe from physical harm, or even the threat of physical harm.
    that is the only way that we got rid of a "hx of violent behavior" resident at a home i worked in. administration didn't even care when i was sent to the hospital via ambulance for a viscious attack. employees said he was "flinging her around like a rag doll" (i weighed 103 lbs at the time). severe sprains, muscle damage, etc... not one word of "sorry" from administration.
    so very sorry this happened to you. good luck and keep up updated.
  5. Aug 1, '04 by
    That is horrible . You could have been SERIOUSLY hurt ! I feel really bad for you and your friend and I am disgusted your employer is blowing it off.
  6. Aug 1, '04 by
    Quote from mschrisco
    contact the state asap. he has already attacked staff-and gotten away with it-another resident is next. (i say gotten away because i get the impression that he was taunting you??).
    state regulation require that residents be safe from physical harm, or even the threat of physical harm.
    that is the only way that we got rid of a "hx of violent behavior" resident at a home i worked in. administration didn't even care when i was sent to the hospital via ambulance for a viscious attack. employees said he was "flinging her around like a rag doll" (i weighed 103 lbs at the time). severe sprains, muscle damage, etc... not one word of "sorry" from administration.
    so very sorry this happened to you. good luck and keep up updated.

    sorry to hear about what happened to all of you.

    i know the guy is a "patient", but even so, in cases like these, aren't the police ever called? it seems like that would at least force the administration to do something about the situation if nothing else. if someone did that to you anywhere else, you would certainly call the police.
  7. Aug 2, '04 by
    Yikes. I would contact an "Employment Law" attorney, OSHA and my state nursing board. You want your employer to be liable for any potential injuries you could now have. Additionally, you deserve to work in a SAFE workplace. Make a copy of that incident report for your own personal records, and perhaps call the police & do a police report. You need documentation for any future legal purposes. Protect yourself.
  8. Aug 2, '04 by
    this situation is despicable.

    agree with keeping a copy of the incident report;
    your employer is LEGALLY RESPONSIBLIE for any medical expenses incurred so keep all receipts (and copies of receipts).
    contact the state ombudsman which should be publicly posted in the facility and they will guide you accordingly.

    if the injury you sustained is prohibiting you from performing your job, then go out on worker's comp and explore your options.

    much luck to you.

    leslie
  9. Aug 2, '04 by
    Aren't there secure psych wards with geri units? Wouldn't that be the place for a violent patient? Surely there is some recourse for safety!
  10. Aug 2, '04 by
    Wow! Im not sure what the right answer is to this one. HIPAA probably prohibits the nurses from sharing his complete med hx with you. This man is definatly a threat to others. We have had a few residents like this.. they are 90lbs wet, but as strong and dangerous as an ox. Only after beating up a few nurses and CNAs and eventually a social worker was he 302'd. Yes these people have dementia and for the most part don't know what they are doing, but hurting you and the other CNA like that is no excuse. Our CNAs aren't really aloud to refuse to care for residents, but in cases like this...it is definatly acceptable! Call the state or even aske the police.....Look at his care plan...(I know you probably don't have access to it) and see what is care planned for aggressive behavior. (The inspectors are very intersted in care plans). Does your facility have a behavior management program? They should. Drugs probably aren't the answer for this man!
    BTW...why not get a lamp for the other man..might help?
  11. Aug 2, '04 by
    Yikes, and I thought some our aggressive residents were bad! The administration of your facility should seriously look at sending this resident to an in-patient Geri-psych unit. The facility will wish they had been more aggressive with doing something if he hurts another resident. Calling the police is not going to do any good, since he is a nursing home resident with dementia. Good Luck! ~Robin
  12. Aug 2, '04 by
    It's bad news anytime a resident is combative with the staff and someone ends up getting hurt. As charge nurse, I've told my staff that if this should happen, to notify the nurse immediately. Last time, I had a CNA struck twice in the face with a closed fist by a resident who is a/o x 3. I called the local police and had a report filed. An I&A was done, and the CNA was sent to the emergency room to be checked out. Of course the resident wasn't arrested, but the report went into his file/chart. And the incident was thoroughly charted in his chart. Without the proper documentation, it's very hard to do anything about abusive residents in the nursing home. And if it's a trend, you can't do anything unless you've got the charting to back you up. Our facility does not mandate that the cna continue to work with a resident if they have had a combative issue with them - we transfer them to another area of the facility if they wish. However, once some of these residents "get their bluff" in on a staff member, that's it. I once had a little bitty lady smack me square across the face, but I was right back passing her meds the next morning. She couldn't believe I even came back into her room. (many residents in nursing homes are alert and oriented x 3.) There's a big difference in being struck by someone with dementia who doesn't know what they're doing and being struck by someone who INTENDS to strike you. And would strike you again, given half a chance.