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  1. Jul 12, '07 by Riverhopper
    Nurses confront violence on the job

    By Dan Lothian
    CNN

    BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Nurses understand that they have a tough job, but getting attacked and abused is not what former Boston area emergency room nurse Ellen MacInnis says she signed up for.

    This harmonica was turned into a switchblade-like device and used to attack psychiatric emergency room nurse Karen Coughlin.

    "It was very frightening," said the 18-year veteran. An angry and frustrated patient
    http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/11...nce/index.html
    Poll: Have you experienced violence on the job as RN or LPN?

    • Yes

      86.96% 160

    • No

      10.33% 19

    • On the fence how to answer-explain below

      1.63% 3

    • Undecided

      1.09% 2
    184 Votes
    Last edit by NRSKarenRN on Jul 20, '07 : Reason: edited for copyright purposes

  2. 67 Comments so far...

  3. Jul 12, '07 by skipaway
    Massachusett's nurses for a bill in their state house to help with the increasing amount of assaults, by patients, that they face. The reporter interviews 2 ER nurses who have been hurt by their patients. Also interviewed was a representative from the Mass Nurse's Associ. who stated that more staff would help decrease the amount of nurses who get hurt on the job. The next person interviewed, an administrator, called the Representative's suggestion a "knee jerk" reaction to the problem. She said that "stepped up security and "safety training for nurses" is a more practical solution." Personally, I think it's the administrator who has the "knee jerk" reaction whenever the quantity of staff is questioned by those who actually do the work in the field.

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/11...nce/index.html
    48RVRN, pickledpepperRN, Emmanuel Goldstein, and 1 other like this.
  4. Jul 13, '07 by Emmanuel Goldstein
    Attacking or threatening a healthcare worker while they are performing their duties (regardless of where they practice) should be a felony assault, period. And hospitals and agencies need to vigorously and consistently prosecute those who do so. It shouldn't be up to the employee to press charges--- it should be by the employer, and automatic, no questions asked.

    This should be explained in detail to every person seeking treatment in a hospital, clinic, or employing a home care agency, so that they understand they WILL be arrested and prosecuted for any threat or battery.

    Just as the law protects police officers and other responders in the field (making it an automatic felony charge), so should we be protected.
    Last edit by Emmanuel Goldstein on Jul 13, '07
    ginger58, pickledpepperRN, and Christie RN2006 like this.
  5. Guide
    Jul 13, '07 by oramar
    Quote from skipaway
    Massachusett's nurses for a bill in their state house to help with the increasing amount of assaults, by patients, that they face. The reporter interviews 2 ER nurses who have been hurt by their patients. Also interviewed was a representative from the Mass Nurse's Associ. who stated that more staff would help decrease the amount of nurses who get hurt on the job. The next person interviewed, an administrator, called the Representative's suggestion a "knee jerk" reaction to the problem. She said that "stepped up security and "safety training for nurses" is a more practical solution." Personally, I think it's the administrator who has the "knee jerk" reaction whenever the quantity of staff is questioned by those who actually do the work in the field.

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/11...nce/index.html
    Don't we all just get sick of it. Bedside nurses identify a problem, present a solution to managment. Managment says that is not the problem, nurses are the problem. Stepped up security and safety training and teaching the nurses how to defuse a problem implies that nurses are doing something to induce the attacks. These same administrators will go to Congress weeping into their handkerchiefs about the nursing shortage.
    pickledpepperRN, Emmanuel Goldstein, and nyapa like this.
  6. Admin
    Jul 13, '07 by NRSKarenRN
    Quote from oramar
    Don't we all just get sick of it. Bedside nurses identify a problem, present a solution to managment. Managment says that is not the problem, nurses are the problem. Stepped up security and safety training and teaching the nurses how to defuse a problem implies that nurses are doing something to induce the attacks. These same administrators will go to Congress weeping into their handkerchiefs about the nursing shortage.

    My vote:

    ORAMAR for CEO

    pickledpepperRN likes this.
  7. Admin
    Jul 13, '07 by NRSKarenRN


    © 2004 Online Journal of Issues in Nursing

    See:
    Number 3: September 30: Nurse Safety: Have We Addressed the Risks?


    WORKPLACE VIOLENCE IN HEALTH CARE: RECOGNIZED BUT NOT REGULATED
    Kathleen M. McPhaul, PhD(c), RN, MPHJane A. Lipscomb, PhD, RN
    Article published September 30, 2004



    ABSTRACT
    Workplace violence is one of the most complex and dangerous occupational hazards facing nurses working in today's health care environment. This article includes critiques of the conceptual, empirical, and policy progress of the past decade, a discussion of the need for methodologically rigorous intervention effectiveness research, and a description of a joint-labor management research effort aimed at documenting a process to reduce violence in a state mental health system. The development of a typology of workplace violence has advanced our understanding of the relationship of the perpetrator of the violence to the victim and provided a foundation for conceptual frameworks linking etiology and prevention. Even though health care workers may be exposed to four types of violence in the course of their work, the overwhelming majority of threats and assaults against caregivers come from patients (Type II), justifying emphasis on this type of violence. Individual nurses and direct care providers have very little influence over the level of violence in their workplaces, but through collective action are poised to influence policies designed to protect the health care workforce
    Last edit by NRSKarenRN on Jul 13, '07
  8. Jul 13, '07 by Christie RN2006
    Quote from Emmanuel Goldstein
    Attacking or threatening a healthcare worker while they are performing their duties (regardless of where they practice) should be a felony assault, period. And hospitals and agencies need to vigorously and consistently prosecute those who do so. It shouldn't be up to the employee to press charges--- it should be by the employer, and automatic, no questions asked.
    I agree! I had an issue one time where I could have and was encouraged to press charges against a patient, but I decided not to because it would have been too much of a hassle for me. I think the hospital needs to protect their own and press charges against the patients who attack their nurses or other health care workers. Now that I think about it, us not pressing charges just shows them that what they are doing is ok and they can continue to get away with it.
  9. Jul 13, '07 by nyapa
    Quote from oramar
    Don't we all just get sick of it. Bedside nurses identify a problem, present a solution to managment. Managment says that is not the problem, nurses are the problem. Stepped up security and safety training and teaching the nurses how to defuse a problem implies that nurses are doing something to induce the attacks. These same administrators will go to Congress weeping into their handkerchiefs about the nursing shortage.

    Quote from NRSKarenRN
    My vote:

    ORAMAR for CEO

    I second that
    Last edit by nyapa on Jul 13, '07
  10. Jul 13, '07 by vashtee
    It never occurred to me that violence might be a problem for a nurse when I signed up for nursing school. Boy, was I dumb.
  11. Jul 13, '07 by RNfaster
    I am working as a CNA while I wait to start nursing school. It blew my mind recently when other staffers told me that if we are attacked by patients that the hospital does not press charges as the patients are considered "vulnerable adults." So far in less than six months on the job, I have already seen a significant amount of violence. None of it resulted in physical harm to any employees or patients, but it was mentally and emotionally alarming. In the last week, I learned about a patient on my unit that punched a worker and also hit another patient (but apparently did not harm the other patient).

    I think that charges should be filed when violence occurs and results in harm whether or not the patient is under the influence of a substance, disease, etc. --If the patient is influenced by drugs given by hospitalists, then I think that should be a mitigating factor when deciding whether to uphold the charges. if the patient is mentally ill, for example, then I think that would also be a mitigating factor (which would also call for future actions that would protect the patient and workers in the future). If the patient is under the influence of illicit substances, then I think that should be considered a reason to apply punishment and rehabilitation.