HH-have you ever been attacked?

[texas_lvn]

Hey guys. I was wondering if anyone else in a HH setting has ever been attacked while at a house? How did you handle it?

I work pedi HH. At a single moms apartment, the back gate lock not working, the back sliding glass door not having any form of lock on it, and you can not place wood because whoever put the door in put it in backward!

Well, I am by myself and with the pedi, not able to move, holding baby in my arms when a drunk friend of babys mom comes in. He heads straight for me. I do have some jailer experience and have taken self defense classes for years. I placed baby on floor. He grabbed my breast and grabbed my head to pull me into him. I hit him as hard as I could, kicked him in the groin and pushed him as far away as possible. He fell over the babys wc. The mom then walks in.

I called the management and told them. Filed reports, ect. told DH, and will not be working at that home again. I loved that baby very much and feel for the mom. She has been through so much, I feel really sorry for her. Uggggg. I got a job on med/surg and was going to keep working part time for the money at HH. Now, I am not sure if I should continue.

[allantiques4me]

I had been caring for a 3-year-old girl on a vent for 2 years on the graveyard shift. One night her father came in the room drunk at 1:30am, closed the door behind him, and asked how his daughter was -- she was sound asleep and stable. He then held out a couple of $100 bills and asked me if I'd have sex with him for that.

I told him NO, that i was not there for that, I was there for his daughter, and I was offended by his asking.

In his drunken state, he assumed it was because it wasn't enough money and kept offering more. When I finally got it through his head that I wasn't going to have sex with him for any amount of money, he started grabbing me, touching my breasts and butt. He had himself positioned so he blocked the bedroom door and I wasn't able to get out.

I spent about 45 minutes trying to convince him to leave me alone. It ended because I made enough noise that his daughter woke up. Her vent alarmed and I scooped her up out of bed and sat down with her in my lap.

The father made a disgusted grunt and left.

I spent the rest of the shift in turmoil. I didn't feel I could leave until my relief showed up because dad was obviously not fit to care for her. I also wasn't 100 % sure I would report it because I really enjoyed caring for the girl.

I gave report in the morning as usual, then when i got home I discussed it with my husband. He encouraged me to report it to my nursing agency.

When i did report it, the nursing agency owner did speak with the father and he admitted to what he had done, but i also found out that I was not the first nurse he had tried this with.

I firmly believe that if I had not used his daughter for a shield I would have been raped in that room. I am still extremely upset at the agency for sending me there when they knew I was at risk.

This family is still being provided nurses from this agency, but now they only send male nurses.

I spent 3 weeks out of work while the agency tried to find a position where I would feel safe. Sometimes I still don't feel safe. I had always felt confident at work. I don't feel that way anymore. At times, I have worked relief staffing at a small hospital or LTC facility and there have been moments when a male ambulatory patient or even a co-worker has been between myself and the door. I panic. I can't help looking at everyone as a potential attacker. It's been almost 3 years since this ocurrance, yet I still am not completely over it.

o my Gosh! this sounds terrifying!it sounds like it should have been reported to authorities.Maybe you should talk to someone medically too.something that horrible ,you could have ptsd.I cant imagine.

[caliotter3]

Yes. More than once. Incidents of stalking also. Very traumatizing. Have posted various comments about this subject before. Made out to be the bad guy by the employer. Can not speak anymore detail due to upcoming litigation. Strongly urge all nurses considering hh to learn techniques concerning personal safety on their own and to think in advance what their response will be to losing their livelihood because they were the victim of assault and battery, stalking, sexual harassment or assault, or any other crime which causes bodily harm and resulted as a consequence of their employment. There are better reasons to be sick and unemployed as far as I'm concerned.

[pedinurse05]

I was taking care of a teenage patient who was MRCP on a bipap during the night. The single mom was away on a trip and I was alone with my patient and her other child (a 17 year old boy). Around 2-3 a.m. I heard a really strange sound coming from the front of the house...i waited a few minutes to see if it was possibly the cats who liked to jump on the screen door....it continued and something told me to go and check it out. I went into the kitchen and turned on the light...there was a fist punching through the screen of the door (he had already removed the glass exterior and was trying to reach through the door BUT was hitting a metal mesh screen from the inside). When the light went on he ran. In the morning we found the patio screen sliced (so he could get to the next door that I saw him at) and the galss he removed from the exterior of the kitchen door. I can only imagine the intent because it was pretty obvious people were home! I really don't like HH shift work anymore! I prefer te hospital!

[Perpetual Student]

On my very first orientation shift for my first (and so far only) nursing job (and job period, excluding various things I did for cash), I had my truck broken into. The windshield was shattered as was one of the windows. Several hundred dollars worth of items were left unmolested, so it was probably just some punk kid wanting to bust up someone's property, which would be consistent with the fact that it was in a quite expensive neighborhood. It really pissed me off. My company paid for half of the repairs without me even asking--nor expecting--them to.

I've never been physically attacked while on duty and consider it fairly unlikely as I'm a 6' man in my early twenties. I'm always extremely security conscious both on and off the job, however.

To those of you who've been attacked, about all you can do at this point is use it as an opportunity to learn how to prevent it from happening again or to better manage it. Stay safe.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I read a really good book recently called "Predators: who they are and how to stop them". I think that's the title; if not, it's pretty close. I can't remember the authors' names, but they are both police officers with many years of experience working with violent crimes/criminals. Some of the info might not directly apply to home health (terrorism, for ex.) but a lot of it might be really useful to you. My hat is off to you home health folks.

[smk1, LPN]

I am scared of dogs and am not fond of animals in general and that prevents me from going into home health, but my goodness the stories hear are truly horrific. It seems that you should almost be in pairs to do this type of work.