nurse's rights when patients are verbally abusive...do we have any?

[proud nurse]

A few weekends ago I had a patient and her family that was so incredibly rude to me. Lied on me, threatened to sue me and the hospital, told her mother to call the TV news station, and was screaming at the very top of her lungs...all for dilaudid. It was frustrating, embarassing and humiliating. I just stood there and took it, because if I really said what I wanted I would've been sent home, or worse fired. I was in deep, family coming at me from every angle all in my face. I held it together. I have a great job, and I need to stay employed. I did get apologies from the patient and her family eventually for the way they acted, which meant absolutely nothing to me.

I decided right then and there that I would have some self respect and stand up for myself. If this patient is assigned to me again, I will refuse to be her nurse. I will not take that kind of abuse again, I don't give a rat's butt about the flimsy apology, or the drama queen fake tears. I'm not a person who really holds grudges, but I'll be damned if you treat me like that twice.

[redhead_NURSE98!, ADN, BSN]

Just home from a terrible night...was slapped at, cursed, and the patient (who is alert and oriented and knows what she is doing) grabbed the hand that I held out to help her to stand up and transfer, grab my hand and arm and yanked it as hard as she could. It hurt my back and shoulder. This same patient has attempted to hurt me and many staff members many times. I missed work for the back injury I got when she tried to drop to the floor as we were transferring her (2 nurses). I don't find any articles outside of this site that tells me what my rights as a nurse are regarding abuse towards nurses. Now if I had intentionally injured the patient, I would be in bad trouble, possibly arrested, loss of job and put my BSN RN license in jeopardy. But we constantly get hit, pulled on and verbally abused by our patients that we take care of. I can be very understanding and patient, and am good at de-escalating aggressive patients. But my ? is, do we as nurses have any rights at all when it comes to patients abusing us? All I feel like I can do is report it and document well. Take another staff with me, but as you all know, staff keeps getting cut, and the patients we get seem to be more unstable (mentally and physically). Thanks for any suggestions or link to sites.

What kind of facility is this? Can she be sent to another facility or discharged? That is ridiculous. I hope you filed another incident report and, if she injured you, another workers' comp claim. Corporations only know loss of $$ as a risk. They don't care about you or any of their other employees' backs or health, since you are expendable and easily replaceable. And this is an assault regardless of whether you're a healthcare worker or not. Healthcare workers are still human and all humans can be assaulted. I'd consider calling the police to file a report. Maybe a friendly visit from Mr. Policeman will make the patient or your facility reconsider their actions. I wouldn't help her in that manner anymore either. If she's strong enough to jerk someone's arm she's strong enough to help herself up or find another means of getting up.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

What kind of facility is this? Can she be sent to another facility or discharged? That is ridiculous. I hope you filed another incident report and if she injured you, another workers' comp claim. Corporations only know loss of $$ as a risk. They don't care about you or any of their other employees' backs or health, since you are expendable and easily replaceable. And this is an assault regardless of whether you're a healthcare worker or not. Healthcare workers are still human and all humans can be assaulted. I'd consider calling the police to file a report. Maybe a friendly visit from Mr. Policeman will make the patient or your facility reconsider their actions. I wouldn't help her in that manner anymore either. If she's strong enough to jerk someone's arm she's strong enough to help herself up or find another means of getting up.[/quote']

Absolutely THIS.

File a police report ASAP. And if you have malpractice insurance, call them and see if you have insurance for this incident; I have insurance through my malpractice plan that also covers situations like this.

[Wile E Coyote, ASN, RN]

I'd begin by asking who within your organization did you report this to? (In response to LRobertson above)

[jaad]

The ones that have yelled the loudest at me are those dependent on narcs...sorry to say. None have done anything about it they just mouth off!

[sharpeimom]

When I had a psych patient who was verbally abusive, I'd usually say something like, "I'll be back shortly when I hope you will be able to have more self control."

If that wasn't a possibility for that patient, then I'd just ignore the behavior and ask/do what I needed to ask/do. Our psych aides were mostly large males and they were very protective of female nurses and that eliminated much nastiness before it ever really got started.

Now family rudeness was a whole 'nother issue.

[Nashvillejeanne]

Having worked in palliative care, we see chronic pain syndromes and families that are at their wits end. I have been in this situation more than once in the past 20 years! I try to tell the family and patient that I am here to help, but I can't if they are yelling at me.

Something like, "I really want to help, but I can not really hear your needs when you are yelling at me, please take a deep breath and let's start over." If that does not deescalate, then I tell them I am going to give them a few minutes to calm down and I will be back in 10 minutes. Always give yourself an easy exit, meaning the door :)

[kungpoopanda]

You must not allow patients or visitors to inflict physical or psychological injury on you. Your first duty of care is to yourself. It is too late when your back or shoulder is damaged, or you are suffering from PTSD. At the first sign of accelaration, move yourself to an area you can safely and rapidly retreat from and get whatever help you need to contain the situation.

[missy42477]

It amazes me how patients believe they can treat us like this! If someone on the street did this we could call the police and file charges. We should have the same rights in our workplaces. I'm so tired of being yelled and sworn at, yet expected to do nothing in my own defense because I am supposed to care for these wildebeest patients. I've just gotten to a point in my life where if a patient starts abusing me I just leave the room. As long as they are clean and safe and all reasonable needs are met there is nothing they can do to you about that. They have absolutely no right to abuse staff.