Violence against nurses

That's ridiculous, and a malfeasance of duty.

Does that also apply if a prisoner attacks a police officer , guard, or the DISTRICT ATTORNEY that happens to be there to take a statement?

I think not.

The nurses are getting assaulted more frequently than before. I feel like if we don't act soon we are going to be in big trouble.
One of the union's MNA( MA. Nurses assoc)tried to get it passed nothing has happened. A few of us nurses are working on it,requesting people to write their represenatives and senators, we also went to the State house in Boston to talk to some of the legislatives, they weren't around but we spook to their aids. We also have had some articiles in the local newspaper and we will be on the radio next month.
Does any one know how many states make it a felony charge if thet hit a Nurse? physician or medical asst? secretary ot housekeeper?
Can anyone give me any more pointers? Thanks for reading ,Actiongirl

I'm a prenursing student at the moment but wish you the best of luck in getting this thing passed

I have written an article on workplace violence, I have been on a radio show x 2 talking about the violence against health care workers. We are no different then anyone else providing service,what makes these folks think it is okay to yell,swear and punch us.

I am always surprised that employers are not sponsoring this type of legislation. They can and do get the pants sued off of them for not protecting their employees in situations similar to this. Every workplace should have adequate protection for their employees in place, including reporting hotlines, response teams, specialized report forms and protocols, central contact point, etc, etc. Violence anywhere should never be tolerated. Also, keep in mind that most violence is perpetrated by known assailants. This is especially true in the workplace.

I would fully support this type of thing, and am surprised it is not already in place.

I noticed this thread was originally from 2007, any further updates?

In Arizona where I went to school, it is a felony to assault a health-care worker. They have signs all over ERs there noting this. There is no reason why we as nurses shouldn't have this sort of protection and a law would make it so that employers would balk at interfering with nurses reporting violence and getting charges filed.

We've had run-ins with families at my work, I've had patients swing at me and have never felt that if push-came-to-shove, management would have my back (frightening, eh?). Now it's one thing when Mr. Demented Sun-downer swings at you out of fear and delirium, but it's something else altogether when a cognizant adult does it. For some reason we're just supposed to take it.

What gets me is when the Hospital Association work against somehting like this. You better believe if someone walked in off the street into their office and hit them, they'd be filing charges in a heartbeat. Double-standards like this...well let' say it doesn't make me happy.

Cheers,
Tom

thank you for responsing, In three days we have had two nurses assaulted,our union allows for time and the hos[ital has a EAP program. But we are still assaulted Any ideas out there?

Call the police, and have the perpetrator arrested on the spot. If the hospital complains, call the media, and let them know that is going on. The sqeaky wheel gets the grease! JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington

In San Diego I once heard that UCSD had guard dog patrols in ER?

Want a quick way to quell a fight, intimidate an aggressive threatening patient?
How about assigning a guard with a large German Shepard to the ED!

The dog will be much cleaner then the bumbs and junkies that we deal with!
You wont have to worry about any stray bullets hitting anyone or having to shut down the ER after macing the guy, no one else will get hurt. Unless the trouble maker is psychotic he will definetly stop and do as he is told and if he is psychotic he will become lunch for the doggie!