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.

[annacnatorn]

Yes, I have. Many times. Mostly by MEN. They think for some reason we are "nurses" to "fleshly desires" as well. We have no choice but to make sure we are dressed as nuns and sometimes thats not good enough.

I've had the following done to me both in a Private Home, SNF, & Hospital.

1. Spit on

2. ear pulled

3. Nose "pushed"

4. Breast squeezed

5. Groped

6. hand up my leg from behind

7. Bitten

8. Urinated on

9. kicked

10. slapped

11. etc

OOy..the joys of Nursing! We need to have more protection from these people. Because of one incident I WAS INJURED to the point I needed 2 surgeries and I've been off of work for almost 1 year. urg!

[ctmed]

When I was a bartender in New Orleans, I had 2 rough looking bouncers and the New Orleans Police Department who loved to bust violent tourists up and give them a nice night or two in Orleans Parish Prison :)

However, if some heroin-addicted jerk wants to punch the living daylights out of me in a psych obs and spit in a nurse's eye with Hep C positive because he is mad he is not getting any drugs, nothing happens.

I also knew one RN who got her jaw broke.. and nothing happened.

I understand being sick... but sheesh... some facilities and some states you have no choice but to get hit.

Makes you wonder... a bartender has more rights to protection than a CNA/LPN/RN?

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

I'm a psych nurse; it goes with the specialty. One must know how to defend yourself regardless but in psych no matter how many precautions you take it will happen. It gets better with time as experience is the best teacher.

I'm sure the ER and geriatric nurses get their fair share as well. You need to be able to read the body language. When I was in college I availed myself of 2 non-verbal communication courses and it was priceless. They were not required for my degree but the education was priceless.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

One of the things you get used to in PACU is the occasional confused, violent or just plain terrified patient. Not for nothing are anaesthetics referred to as "truth drugs" , they bring out everything that's lurking in the subconscious, both good and bad. I find adolescents are the worst, especially those from rough family backgrounds, but policemen tend to run a close second.

I've been sworn at, bitten, scratched and had my glasses broken. Once a child kicked me in the stomach and promptly aimed for the face-fortunately missing the target! You learn to dodge...

As for amorous behaviour, it's one of the side effects of Propofol; my friend has had her butt felt and her boobs squeezed by elderly men. While I haven't had that happen to me, I have had patients swear undying love and ask me to marry them....amazing stuff, propofol .

Thankfully, premedication and anaesthetics are becoming pretty sophisticated these days, so violent incidents are becoming rare, but from time to time we still get one or two who insist on a wrestling match!

[RNMLIS]

worked in LTC fairly common to admit (dump) new resident late inafternoon which leaves new pt. with NO medications of any kind

barebones overnight crew left with no recourse but maintain constant monitoring ....

scared confused abusive mentally unstable often dementia...out of control pt

overworked staff essentially unskilled in this level of care but expected to manage...

call MD - usual answer - I don't know this pt = not willing to perscribe..nothing to HELP resident calm down

Struck in face

called 211 mental health hotline

pt crying remorseful scared confused - locked up in horrid mental health eval.

pt outta there

DON

laughed "expected a problem"

OK,Now Who is really resposible for this assult!

[LiveYourDream]

Im a nursing student. Have not really been assaulted but once was d/c-ing and IV and asked the pt if it hurt (I was taking a while to rip all the tape off- it was my first time) and he said, "well I havent slapped you yet" which I took to mean as a threat, "I will slap you if it hurts".

Also working as a nurse extern my preceptor was sexually harrassed frequently by a patient who would say 'I just want to be alone with you' and make inappropriate sexual references to his penile prosthesis and try to hold her hand at times when he had no business doing so and when I asked her why she did not confront his behavior she said it would only make it worse, and awkward for her for the rest of his stay.

She has also told me of other patients that have asked her inappropriate questions about me but fortunately that never translated into inappropriate commentary or action in my presence. I dont appreciate winking spouses of female patients that refer to the nurses as "love" constantly either. Just a funny-feeling undercurrent.

But no physical violence thank goodness.

[KarmaWiseRaven]

I have had hot coffee tossed on me while trying to give a person their meds. I have been kicked while trying to tie a residents shoe. I have been slapped while walking a Alzheimer's resident to her room. Oh yes and this one resident punched me and cracked my nose. That one was great blood everywhere face swelled like i was a raccoon. And lets talk about the place we work. Or i should say use to work. How much protection do they give you ? Whats your recourse in assault cases? I have had co-workers threaten to press charges on residents and the DON and Admin beg them not to do it. One of my co-workers got her wrist broke by a resident. And that one resident who punched me and cracked my nose well he was doing worse to other aids and techs and even other nurse's and with all of the reports and complaints the Admin or the DON or the ADON who should of been on our side didn't do crap claimed it comes with the job. So my broken nose comes with the job. So i took it upon myself i know your not suppose to do things on your own just obey. I had to look that one up in our employee handbook. And i asked our so called ADON can you please tell me what section that's in. I can't seem to find the Residents Can Abuse Staff At Any Given Notice. Well anyways funny how things change when he went after the social service person with a belt then they decided to do something and quick. The staff had a meeting about that one resident and they wanted to touch bases on safety. I spoke up and told the DON and the ADON i thought it came with the job. What being hit by a belt isn't fun? Well it was fun while your staff was being beat up. Lets just say she wasn't to impressed with me after that. But hey if i wanted to be popular i would of gone on a game show.

[stressednurse70]

Live your Dream, I too have had inappropriate comments at times. I stop it before it goes any further. I tell them "I'm not sure if my husband would appreciate that." Yes, I actually am married but you could make up a fictional one. Just be realistic. Also the look - you know the one - the one women have used forever. Your mother gave it to you as a kid when you started to talk back. Its part stare, chin down a little bit, eyebrow cocked. That shuts them down too. The "I dont think so!" look. (It also helps having age and experience on your side.)

[aurnbob]

:jester:i am an er nurse and this sort of thing is routine. i doubt it will ever change.

[cree0165, LPN, LVN]

A resident with halitosis spit mouthwash back on me. A bad day I must say.

[pielęgniarka, RN]

Yes to all of the above: spit, pushed, scratched, pinched, slapped, grabbed, farted on (intentionally), verbally abused. I was shocked to see the poll reveal some nurses have not experienced this. When it's dementia or delirium it's hard to be angry because they truly cannot help it no matter what kind of approach. You just have to recognize the nonverbal signs & try to make sure the person is safe and protect yourself by staying back and reapproaching later. When it's the A&O folks I give out a stern reminder that that is inappropriate x1. If it continues I get a supervisor. I've had an A&O person grab me by my wrist and yank me into his bed. I told him that was incredibly stupid to do that to the nurse taking care of him and to never do that again. He was so nasty I actually feel sick remembering it.

[bushambo]

In Western Australia, a nurse or Ambulance Officer is deemed a public officer. A verbal assault is worth 6 months in jail. Physical assault is good for 3 years. I have been assaulted, mostly by drug affected pts. We are not allowed to retaliate but SURPRISE!! we generally come off in front. We call it "medical restraint"