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.
Ok. A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL was shot while performing his job functions. This is horrific in and of itself. Doctors, as well as nurses, are our colleagues and the tragedy of this situation doesn't need to be minimized by someone piggybacking a "well, nurses have it just as bad, but we don't make the news" post. WHO CARES? A physician was seriously wounded!
This post is in very poor taste, IMHO.
I disagree that this post was in poor taste. While I am not glad an MD got injured on the job, the numbers of nurses injured on the job in just as serious situations is staggering. The OP is indicating that these injuries DON'T make national news. And that is should be a felony for ANY person to injure a healthcare worker on the job.
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.
ok ruby..i"m stealing your signature line. that one is awesome!
I disagree that this post was in poor taste. While I am not glad an MD got injured on the job, the numbers of nurses injured on the job in just as serious situations is staggering. The OP is indicating that these injuries DON'T make national news. And that is should be a felony for ANY person to injure a healthcare worker on the job.
You're saying that there's a staggering number of hospital shootings with nurses being shot and nobody reporting it? Can you show us where you found all the staggering information about nurses injured on the job in just as serious situations? Do you have a link to an article?
The point is that because nurses are at the bedside for a solid 8-12 hours we endure so much move violence, threats and injury that goes unreported as compared to a doc whom is there for brief moments and unfortunately was attacked and seriously injured.
Many nurses as we argue this are being injured, be it a twisted broken wrist, spit on by HIV patients, slapped, verbally threatened and physically pushed around.
This made NATIONAL attention because this man killed himself, mom and injured an MD. But the point is that we are being abused and injured daily as a group of nurses. Only when it becomes "sensational, paper selling news" does this get coverage.
It's not nurses against docs as much as the amount of violence damaging nurses goes unheard, and a terrible and thankful random event gets so much coverage... that the UNDERLYING ISSUE IS LOST ON THE MEDIA. How the public has lost total control in instances and how in danger we ALL nurses and doctors are because of it.
That's how I read the post and agree with it.. because if it was a nurse, you can bet the ranch that nurse would be facing charges, had her communication style put into question and there would be NO changes in security practices made. Because the docs that bring in the $$$ are now evaluating their safety... something will change.
That is sad. Daily violence against nursing is "accepted", it takes this terrible event to even consider protecting ALL THE HEALTH CARE STAFF. What a crisis, and how simple the response of a zero tolerance policy... that will be ignored when it involves nursing.
All that IMHO. And I agree with RUBY, this is not poor taste, it's taking a tragic situation and mirroring it to our own safety and the double standard that exists.
That's how I read the post and agree with it.. because if it was a nurse, you can bet the ranch that nurse would be facing charges, had her communication style put into question
Would you please clarify the above comment prior to my making any conclusion as to it's meaning.
Because I read this as eluding to a Nurse having been shot under the same circumstances being brought up on charges as a result.
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.
We have a metal detector. Not only does it make it more safe for staff, it protects the patients and visitors. It comes on every night.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Seems to me that coverage of this awful event follows the same pattern the media always follows when they heap attention on one crime or the other - they reflect what grabs people's attention and drives their ratings. Hate to sound like a cynic, but it isn't very difficult to figure out what a society values or not when asking the question why a story dominates the news.
So is it the prestigious location, the status of doctor vs nurse, the unusual circumstances, the violence? Probably all of the above. I happened to be in Boulder when JonBenet Ramsey was murdered, sort of like the eye of the hurricane I guess, because at first the little blurb in the local paper was small and only noteworthy in the sense that any murder in Boulder was unusual. So why the crazy wall to wall coverage of JonBenet when there are a lot of little girls missing or killed that apparently don't interest people so nmuch. The media takes their lead and ignores them. Ruby's post just applies that general truth to this event. Doubt she meant to turn it into a ******* contest about who's murder is more newsworthy.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
seems to me that coverage of this awful event follows the same pattern the media always follows when they heap attention on one crime or the other - they reflect what grabs people's attention and drives their ratings. hate to sound like a cynic, but it isn't very difficult to figure out what a society values or not when asking the question why a story dominates the news.
so is it the prestigious location, the status of doctor vs nurse, the unusual circumstances, the violence? probably all of the above. i happened to be in boulder when jonbenet ramsey was murdered, sort of like the eye of the hurricane i guess, because at first the little blurb in the local paper was small and only noteworthy in the sense that any murder in boulder was unusual. so why the crazy wall to wall coverage of jonbenet when there are a lot of little girls missing or killed that apparently don't interest people so nmuch. the media takes their lead and ignores them. ruby's post just applies that general truth to this event. doubt she meant to turn it into a ******* contest about who's murder is more newsworthy.
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.
what's selfish about it? i fail to see anything "selfish" about it. that sounds like something mommy would say: "now, you stop being so *selfish,* right this instant!"
i see it as a sidebar discussion, an offshoot discussion of the incident. as a nursing student, i certainly want to know how many nurses are shot or injured on the job, because it directly applies to me. i have read through this thread, and i am appalled at what the hospitals apparently expect nurses to "be good little girls" and put up with. come on, here. if you are in your home, and anyone else in the home behaves in a violent manner, makes the kinds of verbal threats listed here, or brandishes a weapon, you'd be encouraged to pick up the phone and call the police, no? but in a hospital, you are to be diplomatic, and charming, and tolerant, and discrete, and all you get to do is call the hospital security guard??? sorry, but that's incredible.
thanks for the thread, op.> it's one more piece of information that i will chalk up as part of the criteria i use to evaluate a potential employer.
In nearly 11 years of practicing as an RN and 15 years working in healthcare, I have never been assaulted, threatened, or harmed in any way by a patient or a patient's family, and I have never been fearful of my going to work or by what was going to happen in my working environment. I have worked in several states and in multiple practice settings (home care, hospitals, etc.)
I have been sexually harassed a couple times (once by a patient, once by co-worker) and both times the situation was brought to management and handled promptly and appropriately.
I feel sorry that OP has had to deal with what she has had to at work, but I'm not sure that she can speak for all nurses or make the claim that her experiences are commonplace. I have worked with a lot of nurses and healthcare workers through the years and I have never met anyone that has been attacked by a A&O patient/visitor that knew what they were doing, much less been held at gunpoint. We had a very unfortunate death in my facility some years ago -- psychiatrist was shot at close range (and killed) by a delusional psych patient that had come in for an appointment, but these types of situations are rare.
Being treated disrespectfully or rudely as nurses is common. Being attacked is not.
Your point is well-taken. However, I do see some positives in the editorial; namely, the recognition by non-medical staff that there IS an unsafe environment created by the convergence of stress and anxiety which many people are ill-equipped to deal with, the stark realities of life & death which are the reason for hospitals' existence in the first place, issues surrounding narcotic use/abuse, and untreated mental health issues.
I'm not trying to grasp for crumbs ... but recognition of these realities is, in my experience, very much lacking in the non-medical public, who tend to view hospitals as places where their every pain, fear, disease pathology, knowledge deficit and *alteration in comfort* should magically disappear, while we cater to any and every possible need/want.
I also find encouraging the editorial's point that " ... the question of whether its (Johns Hopkins') workers consistently feel safe ..." is a question worth asking. Again, this is not a mindset that I often see in the media or in the non-medical public.
I also find these letters to the editor encouraging.
highlandlass1592, BSN, RN
647 Posts
I disagree that this post was in poor taste. While I am not glad an MD got injured on the job, the numbers of nurses injured on the job in just as serious situations is staggering. The OP is indicating that these injuries DON'T make national news. And that is should be a felony for ANY person to injure a healthcare worker on the job.