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.

[jmwsinpc]

I have had all this and more. And that was just last night. Not kidding. I work Med/Surg and Ortho/Neuro. I have worked LTC and Hospice. I am a CNA and I think that the CNA's take the brunt of the abuse and the physical attacks in a hospital and LTC setting because we have to be more physically hands on and more present in the rooms more of the time. My manager could have solved ALOT of the problems we had just last night with all of the above problems if she had staffed us properly instead of putting 2RN's, 1CN and 1CNA for 18 Neuro patients that 12 hour shift. I also believe that night shift gets more of the abuse due to sundowning of patients. Any thoughts on these theories?

[TwilightRNurse]

I've been verbally abused several times by patients, family members, a co-worker and a doctor. I've had a telephone thrown at me, but missed. I've never been pushed or spit upon. That would definitely cause me quite a bit of concern, to the point I may want to press charges on the person.

[bluefabian]

I just have to comment on this because it hits home.

I've been verbally assaulted so many times that I lost count. And I've seen a fellow Dr being assaulted by a patient and his relative. I have no doubts writing that incident report long and detailed, putting my name as the witness. I am just tired of this nonsense.

ER, if you are wondering.

Now, what annoys me most if the way of how some people try to assume the situation. I had a Dr telling me that instead of seeing the pt as the problem, it is us that needs to change!!! And I was like, *****! 'Anger Management' issues, communication and verbal approach... In sort, reading ourselves in anticipation of whatever that is thrown to you.

And best of all 'silence is not defeat'!

If you are dead it is!

I really wished he will not see the moment when that semi-drunk pt slapped the daylight out of that poor Dr that morning - his spectacles flew into the floor. Try putting some sense in that situation.

I do not want to see some nurse being stabbed or dead before somebody took notice or action.

[GreenPolkadot]

nvsmom, where I work we can do nothing to defend our selfs. We had an RT that was slapped in the face by a family member. Even if it is self defence he would have been fired if he did anything back. I have been verbally abused so many times I have lost count.

Lol, another preacher story. The pt, a preacher, had a bad reaction to morphine. Started hallucinating and became combative. Anytime I did anything to him he would say "you are going to burn in the lakes of hell", "may fire and brimstone rain down on you".

[guest2210]

I was assaulted by an agency nursing assistant because I woke her up at 4am when I went into the patient's room to obtain a U/A C&S...She pleaded out her case before the trial started...she can no longer work as an aide in any capacity. Also have had the usual bites, slaps, spits, nails dug into the back of my hand, poop balls thrown at anyone who entered the pt's room...do I miss bedside nursing? No not so much...

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Kicked. Punched. Spit at. Swore at. Scratched. Bit. Licked. Grabbed. Tripped.

I had a woman on her death bed (palliative care). Her granddaughter came in drunk and on drugs and told me if her grandma died, she was going to kill me.

Also: Kissed, hugged, thanked, adored, appreciated... God Bless the wonderful people, that make it possible to continue doing this work.

Ahh, they make up for it all, don't they. Like the courtly old gentleman who took my hand as I was discharging him and kissed it....

[Bronco46]

I have been in many fights, wrestling matches, and few all out riots in our ER

[HHRNurse]

Yes, I have been spit on a couple of times by elderly patients in the hospital with dementia or alzheimers and I took that into consideration. I have been accidently scratched also by the same type of patients. If I were pushed or hit I would assume it would be a younger stronger patient. I would be reporting that for sure!

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

Yes, I have been spit on a couple of times by elderly patients in the hospital with dementia or alzheimers and I took that into consideration. I have been accidently scratched also by the same type of patients. If I were pushed or hit I would assume it would be a younger stronger patient. I would be reporting that for sure!

Actually, everytime I have been hit, its been an elderly patient with dementia.

[MinnieMomRN]

All of the above on my shift last night --- plus a drink thrown at me. I ducked that, but the patient's spouse wasn't as quick. Sadly, these are not isolated incidents on my floor. We nurses tend to support each other and buddy up when we have to provide care to these patients. Some of the patients did have psych issues, but others were just plain SOBs (usually they are the gropers). The psych cases need to be medically cleared before transfering to the psych unit. The SOBs -- well, there just isn't a cure for that!

[hearts895, RN BSN]

I was spit on by a pt in the ER. I pressed charges, he went to jail. 6 weeks later, I went to court and testified. He went to jail for 6 months and now has a felony assault conviction.

In IL, its a felony to assault a healthcare worker

Wow, I wish all states had that law!

[ShaBBy23]

choked, kicked, punched, bit, scratched and spit on

the worst i've experienced was being pinched and stabbed with finger nails by an elderly demented female patient. ouch!

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