Anyone NEVER been hit/hurt working psych?

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.

Good morning nurses!

I am new grad working in psych, about 2 months in and I love it. It's a big passion of mine. I speak to a lot of the nurses on the unit and pretty much all of them say they have been hit, punched, choked, spat on...etc.

Anyone here that works psych that has never been hit or spat on working on their unit? Just curious. Thank you! :sneaky:

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.

I have been working in psych for the last year and so far I have not been hit, kicked, spat on, or punched. My unit is medical psych and we take on more older patients, and recently a heavy influx of dementia patients. Some of my fellow nurses have been hit by the dementia patients but I have not yet. As far as the real violent crazy patients, we send them to another satellite hospital that takes on the more heavy duty mentally ill that are known for explosive, violent behavior. Now I have been threatened to get out of some patients way, or been yelled at, and talked down to. That is a given, especially if someone is detoxing or extremely manic. I am currently looking to get out of this field as it is kind of giving myself and the other nurses a lot of burnout. Our unit has been a mess lately, a heavy mix of borderline patients and dementia patients which is not a good group to have together. Good luck with your new job and be careful of those patients that may fly off the handle.

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Good morning nurses!

I am new grad working in psych, about 2 months in and I love it. It's a big passion of mine. I speak to a lot of the nurses on the unit and pretty much all of them say they have been hit, punched, choked, spat on...etc.

Anyone here that works psych that has never been hit or spat on working on their unit? Just curious. Thank you! :sneaky:

I have to say I'm in the 99% that have been, I remember working a night shift and I heard an bloodcurdling scream, I ran to find out what it was and discovered one of our aides on the floor with the patient on top of her. He had delusions and had headbutted her in the abd into the wall.

Then there was the elderly lady who bit me in the arm, aides were trying to figure out why I was so calm- she didn't have her dentures in...

Then there was another elderly lady who didn't believe (she was 97 yrs old) me when I told her the room she was in did not have a bathroom (it was our dayroom) and scratched me on the face drawing blood

Then there was the guy who kicked me in the knee

then the elderly lady who had become quite combative, and refused her med laden pudding, supervisor basically forced it on her and she promptly spit it out into my hair...

although, looking back I don't think anybody ever punched me...

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I worked as a psychiatric nurse for eight months, and during that time, I was NEVER hit, threatened or spat upon.

My patients included adult psych, chemical dependency, adolescent and memory disorder patients. Many nurses on the memory disorder side had been hit by patients. And I will tell you that that population is my LEAST favorite to work with.

I will share that will working med-surge, I was spat upon and threatened by dementia patients. Personally, I have no idea why dementia patients are included among psychiatric patients. They don't have a psychiatric condition, they have dementia!

Just keep your eyes and ears open, and keep yourself safe because management isn't concerned about YOUR safety.

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
I have been working in psych for the last year and so far I have not been hit, kicked, spat on, or punched. My unit is medical psych and we take on more older patients, and recently a heavy influx of dementia patients. Some of my fellow nurses have been hit by the dementia patients but I have not yet. As far as the real violent crazy patients, we send them to another satellite hospital that takes on the more heavy duty mentally ill that are known for explosive, violent behavior. Now I have been threatened to get out of some patients way, or been yelled at, and talked down to. That is a given, especially if someone is detoxing or extremely manic. I am currently looking to get out of this field as it is kind of giving myself and the other nurses a lot of burnout. Our unit has been a mess lately, a heavy mix of borderline patients and dementia patients which is not a good group to have together. Good luck with your new job and be careful of those patients that may fly off the handle.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I was offered a position on a Medical Psych unit that has mostly older patients w/ dementia. I was told that it was pretty violent unit. I decided not to take that position for many reasons. Lol.

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
I have to say I'm in the 99% that have been, I remember working a night shift and I heard an bloodcurdling scream, I ran to find out what it was and discovered one of our aides on the floor with the patient on top of her. He had delusions and had headbutted her in the abd into the wall.

Then there was the elderly lady who bit me in the arm, aides were trying to figure out why I was so calm- she didn't have her dentures in...

Then there was another elderly lady who didn't believe (she was 97 yrs old) me when I told her the room she was in did not have a bathroom (it was our dayroom) and scratched me on the face drawing blood

Then there was the guy who kicked me in the knee

then the elderly lady who had become quite combative, and refused her med laden pudding, supervisor basically forced it on her and she promptly spit it out into my hair...

although, looking back I don't think anybody ever punched me...

It seems as if the elderly psych patients are the most violent.

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Specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Correctional/Forensic Psychiatry.
I worked as a psychiatric nurse for eight months, and during that time, I was NEVER hit, threatened or spat upon.

My patients included adult psych, chemical dependency, adolescent and memory disorder patients. Many nurses on the memory disorder side had been hit by patients. And I will tell you that that population is my LEAST favorite to work with.

I will share that will working med-surge, I was spat upon and threatened by dementia patients. Personally, I have no idea why dementia patients are included among psychiatric patients. They don't have a psychiatric condition, they have dementia!

Just keep your eyes and ears open, and keep yourself safe because management isn't concerned about YOUR safety.

At first, I thought I really wanted to work in geriatric psychiatry, but then I realized how much I love adult psych (which still has a few geri patients). I would love to maintain this position but not have to worry about being hit, punched..etc. Of course, it's a risk that happens working in psych (or any unit to be honest) but I really would like to prevent that all together.

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Specializes in ED, psych.
At first, I thought I really wanted to work in geriatric psychiatry, but then I realized how much I love adult psych (which still has a few geri patients). I would love to maintain this position but not have to worry about being hit, punched..etc. Of course, it's a risk that happens working in psych (or any unit to be honest) but I really would like to prevent that all together.

It's tough. Really look at the management of the unit. The Geri psych floor that I worked on, I didn't get hurt nor threatened. When I floated to one of the adult psych units? Poor staffing (due to low morale), leading to a charge nurse with less than 6 months of experience at the hospital (and as a nurse ... period, but she had most seniority) ... and I now have a shiny bruise on my cheek due to poor behavioral management of a patient and a staff member who ran the other way.

So get a feel for the unit when you interview.

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Specializes in Behavioral health.

It happens to me about twice a year. It's never personal and the patient apologizes to me later. They're often more upset over their behavior than I am.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
At first, I thought I really wanted to work in geriatric psychiatry, but then I realized how much I love adult psych (which still has a few geri patients). I would love to maintain this position but not have to worry about being hit, punched..etc. Of course, it's a risk that happens working in psych (or any unit to be honest) but I really would like to prevent that all together.

I have been a psych nurse since 2005 and have to say that if you know what you are doing getting hit or injured by a patient is quite rare. I was kicked once in the shin and that caused some bruising. I also sustained a skull fracture and concussion when a Patient punched me in the face. That incident was entirely my fault as I was not paying attention at the time. I had just received word that my father had passed and I said something not very therapeutic to a patient and wham I was on the floor with little birdies flying around my head.

Those two incidents are it - I have learned how to communicate and deescalate patients and situations over the years and am not fairly confident that I won't be injured again. Plus I keep myself in shape with diet, regular exercise and kick boxing so I can bob and weave with the best. Plus I have regular hand picked floor staff and we all know how to work together to keep the unit calm.

Hppy

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Personally, I have no idea why dementia patients are included among psychiatric patients. They don't have a psychiatric condition, they have dementia!

Where I work you never see dementia as a diagnosis even when the patient clearly suffers from the disorder. It's always something like Psychosis NOS. Medicare does not pay our facility for dementia care but they do pay for geriatrics with psychosis.

Hppy

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Ive never been hurt working psych.

Ive been hit while working med-surg plenty of times tho lol.

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