Nurses, have you been been spit on, pushed, scratched and verbally or assaulted?

[Brian]

Unfortunately, it is quite common in the nursing profession to have had been assaulted one way or another by a patient at some point in your career.

For some reason, it is tolerated in the nursing profession and is just accepted as "part of the job"? Police do not tolerate this type of abuse, nor do most professions, why is it tolerated in the nursing profession?

Do to recent stories of fatal violence in hospitals, I wanted to poll all of you AN'ers and see what kind of percentage of nurses from all specialties have had to deal with violence in some fashion.

I think we all would like to see policies change to have a safer work environments, please share this poll with your nursing friends, Facebook etc.... Thanks

Related News:

• Violence in hospitals common for staff-CNN - Nursing for Nurses
  
• Visitor Shoots Doctor at Johns Hopkins
  
• Attacking a Doctor Makes News; Attacking a Nurse is Business As Usual - Nursing for Nurses
  

Please take a second and answer our poll, then if you wish, please share your stories of your experiences.

[country mom]

Did anyone have any kind of instruction in school about keeping yourself safe? I remember a couple of lessons from the hospital's security dept. while in nursing school. He had alot of pearls I've carried with me and helped in alot of situations.

[regularRN]

I have been blamed for everything from lack of health insurance through unpalatable meals... most complaints are not directly related to nursing care...

[Boonce1]

Yes I have been hit once by a lil old guy. He was upset that we did not have coffe and he hit me in the back. Unfortunatly I was pregnant at the time no harm to my baby but boy was I mad. I had to go have a time out. At my new jobs in a correctional facility nurses get cursed at all the time. I have learned to ignore it or get smart right back at em. Nurses have tough skin but we shouldnt have to put up with peoples crap. Thats why a lot of nurses leave the profession.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I forget where I saw this (it was a large national study), but the large majority of abuse in hospitals happens in ERs, psych, and with delirious/demented patients. This makes sense, if you think about it. I don't see it so much as violence as an occupational hazard. With certain patient populations, you have to expect that there is a chance that you might be physically assaulted.

My hospital has great security and has a mandatory 8 hour class for all direct care staff that teaches you how to diffuse high stress situations and how to protect yourself in the event that you are attacked (actual deflection techniques, takedown techniques, etc.) I think all hospitals should employ these kinds of programs.

In my mind, if your patient is whacked out to the point where you wouldn't be able to press charges because they weren't in their right mind, it's not violence, persay. It's part of the job.

So we're excusing violence because it's not really violence?

How is the same behavior by the same person in the same state of mind treated outside of the healthcare setting? Why is there a difference?

"Part of the job"?? I don't think so.

[wondern, ASN]

Does abuse., outright horrible verbal and emotional/mental abuse by a coworker count? If so, I got a story to tell you! It's been horrible.

What happened, SmilingBluEyes? :hug::redbeathe:nurse:

[grandmawrinkle]

Are you saying that you are going to get anywhere if you try to press charges against a delirious hospital patient that kicks you? I don't think so.

You can't bounce a patient from his/her hospital bed for getting combative while ill, probably magnified by medications we gave them.

Occupational hazard.

[nicenurselpn, LPN]

I have been pinched, kicked in the abdomen (happened when I came back to work after having a lap surgery) bitten by a lol, and threatened by irate family members. The scariest one was when a psychotic patient chased me down the hall all because I asked to see that he had his wanderguard alarm bracelet on. I got behind the nurses station, and picked up the phone and he backed off. I put in my 2 weeks notice after that and went to pediatrics!! I realize that these things happen, but it is very hard to deal with when mgt doesn't back you up on these instances.

Wendy LPN

[ittibittinurse]

Had an incident where a family member came through the ER went up to a unit and shot and killed two people...this was about a year and a half ago..the family member was upset because his mom had died years ago...he shot two people he did not know....one was a nurse...the other a unit secretary....I think safety is a huge issue for nurses these days...I have been threatened many times and assaulted many times over my twenty plus years as a nurse...

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I've been bitten (still have the bite mark two years later), scratched, and had verbal assaults directed toward me. What's ironic is I have primarily worked peds and most people wouldn't expect this, yet our adolescent pts can get rough.

[wondern, ASN]

no, we shouldn't excuse violence that is truly violence, grandmawrinkle! we need an international nurse's union. when do we need it? now, yesterday, light years ago!:w00t::yelclap::nurse::rckn::rckn:

oh enquiring minds so do want to know. tell tell. please tell. i love a good comparison!

tell us more, cheyfire, please, i missed it. comparison to what???

i have been hit, kicked, and threatened by residents. while neither was pleasant, the sexual and verbal abuse from my now ex-workers was worse. management was notified about the sexual harassment but they did nada. there excuse was, "oh he is a hard worker and we would hate to lose him." :icon_roll:icon_roll:icon_roll

i've had one really uptight resident hold the phone in a threatening manner towards me, and another release the brake on the or stretcher while i was leaning against it removing the needle from a blood tube which caused a needle stick from a liver transplant patient. 2 seconds more wouldn't have made any difference to the or. i may've learned to not lean on the stretcher that day, too. live and learn. i may be a little clutzy. i've had a big pacu tech guy almost run me over with a post op patient on a stretcher. it just ran up my heel...kind of like at the grocery store when the cart hits your heel just lots heavier. i, too, received some of what i'd call sexual harassment. ftlog, some of the ancillary staff us nurses relied on daily for ekg's, transport, etc, were former head injury patients, some who were extra sexually charged it seemed, others were just stressed out residents and fellow nurses and a patient or two who either made propositions or said or asked kinky things they shouldn't, or just grabbed some 'places they shouldn't' here and there abruptly and very briefly at that i may add, don't know if t&a, is okay to say or not. nothing too serious though, i guess. i always figured it was just some folks reaction to stress and tried to move on and forgive and/or ignore. i guess you never really forget, though. :sofahideryou just learned to avoid certain situations, people, etc. management usually, it seemed like to me, at this magnet place, made folks out as 'difficult' people if you went to them for interpersonal issues, especially.

i just remembered this one nurse found it necessary one day to pound my chest several times with her index finger while giving report to make some point i guess, i don't remember. i don't know what got in to me that day but i gave that right back. i actually feel a little embarassed i stooped to her level but, i never..., untuhhh, . she's probably still there. good for her.

another fellow rn went around spreading sexual rumors about folks in order to alienate others from working together, eg, tech so and so is giving dr, so and so, more initials here, most likely not allowed as it is profane. the sad part is it's the very doc this rn works for daily and supposedly respects, ha! this felt like an assault of some sort because most of us respected this married with family doc.i tried to warn him of her big mouth. we all worked with him occasionally. this was the same rn who told me to get the fbomb out in front of pts. and staff, of course, she actually yelled the word though, 'if i didn't like it there...to get the fbomb out ', one day, as i asked her for some of her help as she was often hoarding, i mean, not sharing staff, mostly when others were really in the weeds, and alienating the ancillary staff from working with others, specifically, me. i actually overheard her tell staff to not get charts out of the bin if they really want to, "make me mad...", meaning let me bring the pts. back alone all day. just leave them all waiting, the patients, that is. we had 4 rooms, at least. she was a master manipulator of the people sort and since she worked also for the head of the dept., this doc, as such, she did have some authority even though she acted as if she was just one of us. watch out for these types, people, the ultimate passive-aggressors. her and management occasionally hung out after hours as well. she sold them quality products at discount prices~ teehee. even though it may seem mild, to me it was vicious and malicious, to not only spread rumors like that, but to generally try to place cogs in the wheels of progress on a regular basis. she actually celebrated my day off with a potluck with the rest of the staff on a weekly basis for a while. sweet. the tech she was always bashing seemed alienated from most of the staff, too, to the point she transferred to a different clinic location. she, this tech, had actually ended up being my buddy. after she and a few others were 'gone through' it was downhill it seemed. i could rely on her and a few others who mostly either transferred or quit d/t the 'stressful' work environment, to help with patients. it shouldn't have to be a bully, i mean, buddy system in order to work. dang, sorry i wrote a thesis this morning, it was raining out, but now it's quit. yeah! you're all free from all my whining now. thank you for your time. :thankya:i will now try to get a life!

i really can't think of any physical assaults while i've been a nurse but i can say i've been sexually accosted by a boss when i was a secretary.....

as so co-workers - i've been where smilingblueeyes has been . . . recently.

when working l&d you get yelled at and sometimes shoved and kicked by women but . . . . .i kinda have to give them a break. labor hurts.

.......

what's happening with you, spidey's mom? have you got a bully coworker or something? you sound so sweet. i'd give the moms a break, too. it does hurt. as long as they didn't keep on, i guess i'd try to joke it off, maybe, if i wasn't wounded too badly. who knows unless your in those well-worn nursing shoes yourself. right, ya'll???

[Victoria rock]

Dis is totally out of tune and sumtin has 2 be done about it. I've bin verbally assaulted once and i heard of a pregnant nurse who was sexually harassed by an alcoholic in d ER,she was thrown at d wall and ever since she's bin having fainting attack d mgt did nothing abt it

[stressednurse70]

One suggestion for a demented patient spitting - use a mask over the patient's face (Not an N95) but a loose regular mask. This is not a restraint, it doesn't hurt the patient, etc. And many times if they start to feel the spit run back onto their face, they stop spitting! After I am done with care and ready to leave the room, I remove the mask and wipe their face. End of problem. :)

I too have been kicked, spit, hit, grabbed, even once had my glasses broken. These were all from demented patients. The ones who are A&Ox3 usually are the ones who verbally attack. I have been taught that when they become belligerent to explain that "I will be back when you can show respect. I do not talk to you that way, you WILL not talk to me that way." This is very effective when they are cursing at you for their pain meds. Give them a 10 min time-out and then come back and ask if they have calmed down and can ask for what they want in a civilized manner.