Abused by a patient

[BloomGirl]

So this all starts on my first night where I get a patient who is very verbally abusive to me and to my tech. I go to the floor supervisor and explain that I refuse to be verbally assaulted so she went in to the room and talked with the patient. Afterwards I am told that patient is in anger stage of diagnosis and that the rest of the night should be fine. Nope, patient refuses to look at me or talk to me and when he does it's very condecending and hateful. I make request not to have patient on that nights assignment.

Night two I come in and have the exact same assignment. I mention the conflict and am told the exact same thing, patient is in anger stage. Patient again very verbally abusive so I ask to have someone else take this patient. Current charge nurse tries to switch my assignment however supervisor switches it back and states patient is my responsibility and that the patient actully likes me. Ummmmm.......no the patient doesn't. Pt remains condecending and hateful for remainder of shift. The other nurse I am working with goes to our supervisor and explains how difficult my assignment is (I was unaware that she did this at the time) and that it needs to be split. I go to the supervisor and ask to please not have this patient on my assignment for a third night.

Night Three, exact same assignment I am miserable but at this time I was like what is the point of arguing no one really gives a damn anyway. Patient has life threatening complications I get the charge nurse and we call the emergency response (MET)team. Lucky for me and my other patients I work with really awesome nurses who helped pass my meds and do patient care while I was in with this situation. During the MET call the doctor and ICU nurse witness the way that I am treated but it is now being blamed on the current situation. Patient ends up remaining on our floor and I continue care. I go in to follow some new orders the doctor gave and patient grabs my arm in a death grip and starts twisting all the while he is screaming at me and hitting me with his other hand. Another nurse comes running in because she heres him yelling at me and gets the patient off of me. I leave the room and immediately burst into uncontrollable sobs.

The house supervisor now gets called by the nurse I am working with and becomes involved. I am given the option to give up the patient. Now mind you it is 2 in the morning and there is a great chance this patient will crash before the next shift. I said due to the circumstances I would remain this patients primary nurse but I refused to go into the room without someone else. It was agreed that this was an acceptable solution. Unfortunately I was the only person who responded when he tried to get out of bed and the alarm went off. As I am trying to get him back in bed he is hitting and pinching and slapping me not to mention we are standing in a large puddle of water at the time.

I cried all the way home and for most of the day yesterday. I have bruises all over me and I am sore where he hit me. I don't think this was acceptable and could have been avoided. My concerns weren't taken seriously. I understand he was in the anger stage but what makes it right for all his anger to be taken out on me, and for 3 consecutive nights? If you made it through this entire post Thank you. I'm just so upset and depressed over this, it makes me hate my job.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

There are so many things wrong with how this situation was handled, I hardly know where to begin!

If the patient was alert and oriented X 3, you were assaulted and no, you should not have to deal with that. Steps should've been taken to defuse the situation.

First and foremost, you should have been believed. You should've had backup. Your supervisor should've sent you to the ER or to Employee Health to be checked out. They should've offered to help you write an incident report. The doctor should've given the patient the appropriate psych consult and sedation medication.

If the patient was confused and combative, the patient should've been in restraints and sedated.

Please file an incident report, see your doc, and get an appointment with EAP, at the very least.

Frankly, I would find it extremely hard to work with these unsupportive coworkers.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

I'm so sorry you experienced this, Bloomgirl. Did you fill out an incident report?

Can you write out exactly what happened (factual, and objective info only) and turn it in to HR and to your mgr?

:icon_hug:

Sadly, mgmt usually does not give a crap about nurses, and pt's bad behavior is excused because they are "ill."

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Here's a hug! :icon_hug: (((hug))) I'm sorry that you had to experience such deplorable treatment.

I've been verbally abused by patients and family members but, fortunately, no one has ever put their hands on me at the workplace.

It is time for you to seriously ponder searching for another place of employment, because it seems rather clear to me that your current workplace did not value your input or assessment of this patient's brutish behavior. If they marginalized you now, they'll likely do it again. Save yourself from shedding more tears.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Not acceptable and the first person to fail you was your supervisor. As others have said, report it, see your own doctor and if necessary take photos and document everything

[BloomGirl]

Pt was A&Ox3, never showed signs of confusion in my care however as soon as I took over so did the aggression. Everyone said how wonderful he was during the day although angry with terminal diagnosis. The house doctor did end up giving him 1 mg of Ativan and 2mg of Dilaudid which worked for 3 hours and then we were back to square one.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Boy, that's lousy.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Pt was A&Ox3, never showed signs of confusion in my care however as soon as I took over so did the aggression.

If this patient was alert and oriented x3 when he struck you, pressing charges against him might be a possibility that you may wish to consider looking into. After all, I feel that it's time to teach these assaultive patients a lesson that their antisocial behavior is intolerable.

If I were to beat up the waiter after being served by him/her at a restaurant, I am fully assured that charges would be pressed against me. If I punch the hotel clerk after paying for my room, the police would most likely be called. At the very least, they'd escort me out of the business. It's a shame that food places and hotels back up their workers far more often than the hospitals back up their employees.

[BloomGirl]

I would like to say that the ones who I feel really let me down is the unit manager and our unit night supervisor. The other nurses and my techs did everything they could do to help me which included on the last night calling the house supervisor and getting them involved. Most of my co-workers are awesome and I would have been worse off without them during this.. I am currently looking for a non-clinical or outpatient job and plan on breaking my contract with this hospital ASAP.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

If pt were A&OX3 why not press assault charges? This would turn some heads at the hospital for sure. Don't think they'd like the bad publicity.

[blueheaven]

So this all starts on my first night where I get a patient who is very verbally abusive to me and to my tech. I go to the floor supervisor and explain that I refuse to be verbally assaulted so she went in to the room and talked with the patient. Afterwards I am told that patient is in anger stage of diagnosis and that the rest of the night should be fine. Nope, patient refuses to look at me or talk to me and when he does it's very condecending and hateful. I make request not to have patient on that nights assignment.

Night two I come in and have the exact same assignment. I mention the conflict and am told the exact same thing, patient is in anger stage. Patient again very verbally abusive so I ask to have someone else take this patient. Current charge nurse tries to switch my assignment however supervisor switches it back and states patient is my responsibility and that the patient actully likes me. Ummmmm.......no the patient doesn't. Pt remains condecending and hateful for remainder of shift. The other nurse I am working with goes to our supervisor and explains how difficult my assignment is (I was unaware that she did this at the time) and that it needs to be split. I go to the supervisor and ask to please not have this patient on my assignment for a third night.

Night Three, exact same assignment I am miserable but at this time I was like what is the point of arguing no one really gives a damn anyway. Patient has life threatening complications I get the charge nurse and we call the emergency response (MET)team. Lucky for me and my other patients I work with really awesome nurses who helped pass my meds and do patient care while I was in with this situation. During the MET call the doctor and ICU nurse witness the way that I am treated but it is now being blamed on the current situation. Patient ends up remaining on our floor and I continue care. I go in to follow some new orders the doctor gave and patient grabs my arm in a death grip and starts twisting all the while he is screaming at me and hitting me with his other hand. Another nurse comes running in because she heres him yelling at me and gets the patient off of me. I leave the room and immediately burst into uncontrollable sobs.

The house supervisor now gets called by the nurse I am working with and becomes involved. I am given the option to give up the patient. Now mind you it is 2 in the morning and there is a great chance this patient will crash before the next shift. I said due to the circumstances I would remain this patients primary nurse but I refused to go into the room without someone else. It was agreed that this was an acceptable solution. Unfortunately I was the only person who responded when he tried to get out of bed and the alarm went off. As I am trying to get him back in bed he is hitting and pinching and slapping me not to mention we are standing in a large puddle of water at the time.

I cried all the way home and for most of the day yesterday. I have bruises all over me and I am sore where he hit me. I don't think this was acceptable and could have been avoided. My concerns weren't taken seriously. I understand he was in the anger stage but what makes it right for all his anger to be taken out on me, and for 3 consecutive nights? If you made it through this entire post Thank you. I'm just so upset and depressed over this, it makes me hate my job.

You should have filled out an incident report (if not already done so) for each night that this PITA was assigned to you. Went to ER after you were physically assulted so that proper documentation could be done...if not your hospital ER another ER. If you are still bruised...GO TO AN ER and get pictures!!!!!!!!! You could bring him up on charges for assault and battery. Hospitals are required to provide you with a safe working environment whether it be an abusive pt, or MD. Mr. X was a recent pt of mine who was similar to the man you describe, he was hitting and kicking us etc...I told him that if he laid one more hand or leg on me I was filing charges on him and when he was d/c his a++ would go to jail. :icon_hug: He chilled out. You can refuse an assignment!! Please take care of yourself first...most hospitals won't and don't!!:icon_hug:

[Little Panda RN, ASN, RN]

I agree with numerous other posters. "You should not have to put up with being abused, hit, pinched, assulted". Your supervisors let you down. They should have removed you from this assignment the first time you voiced your concerns. In my opinion "How dare they" keep assigning you to this patient.

I am so sorry for what you have been through. As others have said take pictures, file and incidence report and follow this up through the chain of command.

If it would have been me in that situation I would be consulting and attorney, but that is just me.