the shootings at the johns hopkins hospital made national news. maybe i'm cynical, but i think it was because a doctor was shot. news reports say that dr. david cohen was updating the patient's son about her condition, and the man was increasingly unhappy with what he was hearing. after threatening to jump out of a window, he pulled out a gun and shot the surgeon in the abdomen. he was taken to the er -- and whoever went and removed him from the scene is certainly heroic! -- and then to surgery. latest reports are that he is doing well and expected to make a full recovery.
the visitor shot his mother and then himself.
this may seem like an isolated incident, but really it's just a progression of what we nurses put up with on a regular basis. shooting a doctor makes the news. threatening to shoot the nurse, even if you're armed and dangerous, does not. decking a doctor makes the news. beating up on mother's nurse does not. threatening a doctor gets attention; threatening a nurse is business as usual.
i've been kicked, bitten, slapped, punched and threatened with knives, guns and an "attack dog" while in the course of taking care of patients. once i was in the center of an armed confrontation between law enforcement personnel who carried guns and were unhappy with their relative's care and hospital security personnel. the situation was resolved without formal charges, and the visitors were back the next day. another time, when taking care of a prison inmate who was dying i was nearly knifed by his son (also an inmate) with a homemade machete he'd smuggled out of prison and into the hospital. withdrawing care on the patient was illegal -- it would be shortening the convict's life sentence. the son was intent on shortening the life sentence, although it's unclear whether he was doing it to ensure dad was indeed on his way to hell or if it would have been a mercy killing. (i wasn't particularly brave. i had my back to the visitor and was tackled by a prison guard to get me out of danger while two other guards wrestled the son to the ground and disarmed him.) it's made me reluctant to turn my back on visitors.
in some states, threatening or attacking a health care worker performing her job is a crime on the same level as assaulting a police officer. not in our state. the visitors are free to insult, assault and batter nurses and then come back to visit. in one incident, a patient's husband threatened me and another nurse with a handgun at 6 pm. it was 9pm before the police were notified, and midnight before the visitor -- who was in plain sight the entire time -- was in custody. he was back visiting by 6 am. our manager, bless her heart, wasn't concerned about the gun-toting husband because "he's from texas. everyone carries a gun there."
we need stiffer penalties for attacks on nursing staff, managers who will stand up for us and a visitor's code of conduct prominently posted in hospital entrances and waiting rooms and strictly enforced. (metal detectors and locked units would be nice, too, but i'm not holding my breath.) and we need it sooner, rather than later.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
first, making a statement like that is just as bad and unfair as when management/public blames nurses for getting hurt - "you must have deserved it".
second, while normally i am kindred with rv's beliefs, today i am not. the violence invaded my workplace, and i frankly do not care whether it was nurse or an md or a janitor or the lawn man.
i'm very sorry that violence invaded your workplace, and i'm quite thankful that it appears dr. cohen is going to be ok. or as ok as you can be after a horrific episode like this. i certainly did not intend to make anyone's coping more difficult after living through the tragedy, but perhaps i should have thought it through before starting the thread.
i still believe that we need a code of conduct for visitors posted prominently in every entrance and waiting room and strictly enforced, and there should be a zero tolerance rule for any violence toward staff or even threat of violence. the manager i have now protects her staff; i wish they all did.
i'm very sorry that violence invaded your workplace, and i'm quite thankful that it appears dr. cohen is going to be ok. or as ok as you can be after a horrific episode like this. i certainly did not intend to make anyone's coping more difficult after living through the tragedy, but perhaps i should have thought it through before starting the thread.
i still believe that we need a code of conduct for visitors posted prominently in every entrance and waiting room and strictly enforced, and there should be a zero tolerance rule for any violence toward staff or even threat of violence. the manager i have now protects her staff; i wish they all did.
the facility in question actually has some of the better security and some of the more personable, protective management that i have dealt with. due to the general area of baltimore, the reputation of the facility, and that it does research, security is a major focus.
nonmd level employees are mourned and lauded and do make the news. last month, a research assistant/tech. was off duty and stabbed to death when returning home, to an area of baltimore popular with students and personnel. it was major news here for several days, also in local papers/news, some nationals and made the news in several papers in the south florida/wpb area. it has continued in recent days because of election issues. while it may have not had dianne sawyer announcing it, it certainly had plenty of press.
and, not unlike this event, locals complained that with all the local crime, there was unfair focus on/bias in reporting on this one among the many people are murdered because he was white and/or a jh employee.
And, not unlike this event, locals complained that with all the local crime, there was unfair focus on/bias in reporting on this one among the many people are murdered because he was white and/or a JH employee.
Disparity in reporting is a reality as evidenced in post #19.
The unfortunate reality in this fact can be attributed to sales revenue (money), and that is simply the way it is.
The issue for us is our personal safety and that of our patients and visitors in these public buildings. What we can do as Nurses, is advocate for effective prevention of such increasingly common events. Effective prevention taking the form of discovery and seizure of weapons in all public buildings as opposed to armed security as a deterrent.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Makes me wonder why did the patient attack thAt particular doctor,what has the doctor have done to him?
This can be fairly interpreted to mean "why did the gunman single out that doctor as opposed to all the others", or what particular interaction between the two had transpired prior to the event. I think it's unclear from this post if blackheartednurse intended to imply that the doctor engaged in some sort of provocative behavior analogous to a rape victim being blamed for wearing skimpy attire. I think it's a casualty of mangled words.
I feel that if a nurse had been shot it would have been news as well. Reading some of your posts makes me feel very lucky to work where I do. I have had a pt's family member escorted out of the room by security for screaming at me non stop and flinging a stack of towels at me. I have also had a physician come in and threaten to have a family member banned from the hospital room because he screamed at me. I just feel sad seeing that people seem to think it is the norm for nurses to be treated so poorly. Maybe it is though and the respect I feel that I receive is at my job is not
First, making a statement like that is just as bad and unfair as when management/public blames nurses for getting hurt - "you must have DESERVED it".
Second, while normally I am kindred with RV's beliefs, today I am not. The violence invaded my workplace, and I frankly DO NOT CARE whether it was nurse or an MD or a janitor or the lawn man.
I think this attack made news because it was Hopkins, folks. Not because it was a doctor, or because doctors are more important than anyone else. Another poster provided several examples of media coverage of assaults on nurses at the local level. Because Johns Hopkins is a nationally recognized name, it was national news. I can only assume that a shooting at Mayo or Cleveland Clinic or MGH would have gotten the same press. I can also assume that no matter who had been shot, the news would have been covered equally. This is another episode of workplace violence, which is so drastically on the rise. Disgruntled employees, customers, what have you... everyone feels entitled to show up with a gun these days.
To caroladybelle and any other Hopkins employees who are reading this thread, I am so sorry that your sense of comfort at your workplace has been violated. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to have to go back there, knowing that a place that is supposed to heal and help the sick has seen such violence. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all of the employees of Johns Hopkins.
What exactly is the complaint? That nurse shootings don't make the news? That nurses get attacked all the time and nobody cares? How frequently are there nurse shootings in relation to doctor shootings? In this case I think the prominence of the hospital contributed to making it a big story. Maybe we should complain that people care more about shootings in famous hospitals than in small, obscure ones.
I think if it would have happened at a small hospital it would have been just as newsworthy. I completely agree with what you are saying though. This thread was completely unnecessary because it takes the attention off the fact that there was a shooting and turns it into something so selfish. Seriously, you hear that a medical professional who happens to be a doctor at a hospital gets shot and you complain that there's not more news that nurses are being shot? How many nurse shootings do you guys think are going on and aren't being mentioned in the media? How many of you have heard or experienced a nurse getting shot in a hospital and know that it wasn't covered by the media? I can't believe the selfishness. A man shot 2 people and himself and people are complaining that it was a doctor and the media is reporting it.
Really, this is just pathetic, and the number of people that agree with OP is pathetic.
So, now, we are extending the ******* contest that has always existed between nurses and physicians to matters of media coverage of violence and death?
Would YOU have liked to be that physician or the physician's family and have that event reported in the news? No? Then shut your mouth.
Ruby: Another spot-on post! I think there should be metal detectors visitors should have to pass thru. One article I read (while researching this topic for a paper I was writing) quoted a hospital administrator who stated that searching visitors for weapons using a metal detector would make the environment "too opressive" for visitors...even though it would make for a safer staff environment. What a shock.
I felt the same way when I saw the news. A physician gets threatened, they're hauled out of the hospital. A nurse gets threatened, if we're lucky, security tells them not to do it again.
Of course, the best part of when a nurse gets threatened or attacked is she gets called on not using her therapeutic communication skills. Obviously she was asking for it by not being sweet and wonderful enough.
When a patient was swinging his cane at the staff, after scratching the hades out of one of the techs, and I took it away from him after telling him he could sit down and stop swinging it or I would take it from him, I was accused by the doctor (who of course wasn't there to get his head beat in with the cane) of abusing the patient. The family also refused to allow blood testing so the tech that he'd scratched up could be put at ease.
I'm glad the doctor is so far doing ok. But it's the nurses that are with the crazy patients and crazy family members all day long. As long as administration allows them to get away with everything short of murder (and I'm not so sure you couldn't murder a nurse then visit the next day as long as you promise not to do it again), things will get worse long before they get better. Especially if administrators continue to blame the staff for being threatened.
Oh yes..your theraputic communication skills...they will solve ALL problems! LOL at least that's what I'm hearing right now. (communication workshops at work). "You need to learn to ACTIVELY listen to improve customer satisfaction scores":up::banghead:
:banghead:
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
i'm very sorry that violence invaded your workplace, and i'm quite thankful that it appears dr. cohen is going to be ok. or as ok as you can be after a horrific episode like this. i certainly did not intend to make anyone's coping more difficult after living through the tragedy, but perhaps i should have thought it through before starting the thread.
i still believe that we need a code of conduct for visitors posted prominently in every entrance and waiting room and strictly enforced, and there should be a zero tolerance rule for any violence toward staff or even threat of violence. the manager i have now protects her staff; i wish they all did.