Anyone NEVER been hit/hurt working psych?

Specialties Psychiatric

Published

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:

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
1 hour ago, Purple_Clover said:

LMAOOOO

I was hit, kicked, had poop thrown at me, was cut with a razor blade, was punched in the head several times, got a sprained neck, got a concussion, etc. working in psych. It is ***ing DANGEROUS and unless a place has staff security escorts 24/7 then you're going to be assaulted. Period.

I beg to differ as in 20 years of psych nursing I have only been assaulted one time and it was my fault for inadverently goading the patient. I have seen many nurses who lack empathy or capassion and are just plain mean to the point that patients look for a way to get back at them. Not saying this was you but in the ITU environment you ahve to watch your back.

Hppy 

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Specializes in Pschiatry.

I've been spit on, swung at ( no connection yet LOL), been hit with bottles of shampoo/ body wash they launched at me, kicked, chased, luckily have not been hurt yet knock on wood. I try to gauge moods and try to stop the escalation before it starts.

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Specializes in Psychiatric, in school for PMHNP..

I’ve worked in psych for 10 years. I’ve had patients spit at me, only twice, and one older lady twisted my wrist.  One patient picked up a big heavy wooden chair and threw it down the hallway and the leg broke off of it. He then picked up the leg and broke the window on the door into the nursing office. He continued to pound on the door and I called 911. I did press charges too.  I must say I worked on the surgical floor for only one year before that, and had three patients hit me or bat at me, not hard.

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We are having more and more nurses assaulted at my hospital and it is really making me anxious. I haven’t been seriously assaulted as a nurse—some light punches, a kick, spit on. However, there are people at my workplace ending up with broken bones and concussions and it is very scary! I’ve been a psych nurse for 8 years and I am pretty confident in my abilities as a nurse. However, management is not listening to our concerns and they are admitting violent patients to units that are already highly acute. They also want us to be less “punitive” with patients. They want us to talk things out with them when some of these patients need hard and fast rules and more structure (I work with adolescents). Instead, we are moving to less structure and we are having more and more violence. We had some violence on our unit last weekend and one of our psychotic patients who ended up in seclusion wrote up a complaint about me. Management brought up his complaints with me and I’m like seriously? He is paranoid and psychotic and threatening us, but you are going to take his side. I’m feeling so frustrated and I’m wanting to call in for my next shift. This job is hard enough as it is but worse when you feel like management is against the staff!! 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
5 minutes ago, penelopelp said:

........ We had some violence on our unit last weekend and one of our psychotic patients who ended up in seclusion wrote up a complaint about me. Management brought up his complaints with me and I’m like seriously? He is paranoid and psychotic and threatening us, but you are going to take his side. I’m feeling so frustrated and I’m wanting to call in for my next shift. This job is hard enough as it is but worse when you feel like management is against the staff!! 

The thing about working acute adolescent psych is that everyone thinks it's easy but no one wants to do it. This past year we put up cameras covering consult rooms, hallways and the seclusion area. Whenever we have to put our hands or restraints on a patient (Which is considered a treatment failure) We all sit down and review the tape to see if we used proper techniques and the least aggressive methods in bringing a situation under control. 

Plus supervisors need to investigate every complaint so don't feel bad if you are questioned, its par for the course. Just make sure you are always doing the right thing and then such questions won't bother you. 

Hppy

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

I work in an emergency room psych holding area which holds up to 16 patients.

  it has been absolutely awful! management does not help they keep giving us the worst violent patients and they do not provide enough staff.

we have had many violent restraints. Ended up with three staff people hurt. The only time management comes up happens to be when we have a quiet moment and they see that the unit does not look too bad..

 they tell us we should be equipped to handle whatever comes our way??

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
12 minutes ago, Erindel RN said:

 They tell us we should be equipped to handle whatever comes our way??

So do they equip you?

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.
1 hour ago, hppygr8ful said:

So do they equip you?

No they do not and have yet to do so. It is maddening.

 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
54 minutes ago, Erindel RN said:

No they do not and have yet to do so. It is maddening.

 

there"s always the anonymous cal to osha
 

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Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.
3 minutes ago, hppygr8ful said:

there"s always the anonymous cal to osha
 

True. I have never thought of that.

What does that entail?

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6 hours ago, hppygr8ful said:

The thing about working acute adolescent psych is that everyone thinks it's easy but no one wants to do it. This past year we put up cameras covering consult rooms, hallways and the seclusion area. Whenever we have to put our hands or restraints on a patient (Which is considered a treatment failure) We all sit down and review the tape to see if we used proper techniques and the least aggressive methods in bringing a situation under control. 

Plus supervisors need to investigate every complaint so don't feel bad if you are questioned, its par for the course. Just make sure you are always doing the right thing and then such questions won't bother you. 

Hppy

I may have just been extra sensitive. I’m not used to being questioned by management like that—it felt like an interrogation. Staff were assaulted that day by another patient, and I probably was just feeling very stressed from the whole event. It’s hard when I see staff getting assaulted but management just keeps on allowing additional dangerous patients to be added to the milieu. It makes me feel like we are cannon fodder. 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
14 hours ago, Erindel RN said:

True. I have never thought of that.

What does that entail?

You look up the number and call them. I would not recomend doing this while a work.

 

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