Could the police learn something from nurses?

Nurses General Nursing

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On how to safely deal with a violent or even non violent person. Of course I do realize that in public there are weapons involved, however I do believe that they can learn something from nurses. Not to mention that nurses have to deal with potential weapons too.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.

I think it is tough to compare the tough especially because the resources we have at hand versus the resources they have at hand when dealing with a violent person are different. But ultimately if it could improve outcomes to learn from nursing, then I'm all for it.

I fully and actively support the BLM movement, AND I support the police force. I completely agree with TriciaJ in that the issue can usually come down to either an issue with vetting, training, or oversight.

2 Votes
Specializes in Community health.

I work in an FQHC and patients are often inebriated and/or just very angry. Sometimes they yell and curse. If I responded with: “HEY. HEY SIR. You will NOT talk to me like that. Get down! Sir, I am in charge here” I guarantee you that it would escalate to violence weekly, if not daily. That is NOT how you handle someone who is verging on losing control. And yet most of the times that I’ve seen a police officer interact with the public (I’m not talking about the selective videos that get posted online. I’m talking about watching local police do crowd control at last years’s Independence Day parade; or telling local boaters that they need to wear life jackets; or telling city residents where to park their cars; etc) that is how it goes. Escalate escalate escalate. Chest out, hand on gun, voice raised and barking. And then everyone is shocked when the situation spirals.

And yes occasionally you meet a nurse with “the attitude” as well and it’s terrible. But most of us are better trained than that.

3 Votes
Specializes in Community health.
On 5/29/2020 at 10:03 PM, Davey Do said:

It is sad to hear of situations where any person is abused by professionals due to ignorance, misconceptions, or biasness.

We as professionals in certain specialties need to show a better way to those who act on a negatively subjective belief system or power play.

I have been very lucky to have worked with law enforcement officials who allowed me to take the lead in such situations. As a psychiatric community nurse, police officers I worked with would allow a report and plan before acting in a crisis situation.

As a first responder in medical trauma situations, the police responded in a similar manner.

I am sorry others have had to experience and deal with the ramifications of some incompetent professionals.

This is so good to hear. It gives me hope.

5 Votes

Yeah they could if we have to have a license to practice nursing they should so need to get licensure and under go more extensive training and take a national exam to be an officer.

7 Votes
Specializes in retired LTC.

One issue that is under-recognized is the role that the police UNIONS play when tragic situations arise. The unions seem to always (?) support the officer's actions. And the officers obtain the best-est legal support avail. (AT whose expense?)

From the time that an incident occurs, the officers seem 'protected' and accorded treatment not usually afforded perpetrators of similar occurrences.

I'm floored by the detail that the officer in GF's case had 18, yes, eighteen, write-ups over his career. How many of us could have 18 write-ups and still be practicing? Something's just not right there!

It is pathetically sad that the honorable police enforcement community as a whole suffers a black eye as a result of the behaviors of the rogue cops out there. It casts such a pale on the reputation of the profession. The general public jumps all over the rogue nurse, but employers and respective professional boards are usually there to intervene in many instances BEFORE the behaviors become so contrary to acceptable standards of practice.

7 Votes
Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.

I think it would be a little bit arrogant for us nurses to think we know what LEOs go through on a day-to-day basis every day. We do get a little bit of it here and there but that doesnt compare to the constant threat to life that they face not knowing which call could prove deadly for them. They are trained but just like any other profession there will always be good and bad individuals. Of course in the case of Mr Floyd everything should be investigated including the dept/management to find out if this was a rogue cop/s or a dept problem. Unfortunetly I am not sure any amount of training would have helped because this seems to be an issue of these particular cops not even having an ounce of humanity. There is no excuse for what happened to George Floyd!

3 Votes
Specializes in retired LTC.

Daisy4RN - you're right. Nurses don't have to don flak jackets or bullet-proof vests to go to work

And there should be some investigation by an outside agency to review the operations of the Milwaukee PD.

4 Votes
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

Nurses, as a rule, are unfamiliar with any work conditions which provide the amount of coddling (immunity even) for bad behavior that police widely enjoy.

6 Votes
Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
43 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

Nurses, as a rule, are unfamiliar with any work conditions which provide the amount of coddling (immunity even) for bad behavior that police widely enjoy.

I think that nurses are all too familiar with work conditions that provide that coddling since many of us have worked in those. There have been threads here about that...why good nurses are fired while bad ones remain etc. So, just like any other job/profession it happens with police also, not sure it is "widely enjoyed" but the bad ones should be weeded out, just like nurses or any other job.

5 Votes
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
30 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:

I think that nurses are all too familiar with work conditions that provide that coddling since many of us have worked in those. There have been threads here about that...why good nurses are fired while bad ones remain etc. So, just like any other job/profession it happens with police also, not sure it is "widely enjoyed" but the bad ones should be weeded out, just like nurses or any other job.

Nope, I don't buy it. Nurses have a state issued license which must be maintained to the standards determined by a professional board. That board is literally invested in holding members of the profession to very high standards. Police have nothing of the sort. There's not even any notion promoted that police should carry professional . Police are increasingly immune from accountability.

6 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
On 6/5/2020 at 5:48 PM, toomuchbaloney said:

Nope, I don't buy it. Nurses have a state issued license which must be maintained to the standards determined by a professional board. That board is literally invested in holding members of the profession to very high standards. Police have nothing of the sort. There's not even any notion promoted that police should carry professional Liability Insurance. Police are increasingly immune from accountability.

I can't speak for other states but Oregon has the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. All law enforcement personnel are required to maintain certification and can lose it by not adhering to standards of conduct.

Rogue cops are just like rogue everyone else. A function of corrupt or ineffectual management. One bad actor can create huge problems as we have seen.

7 Votes
On 6/6/2020 at 3:29 AM, TriciaJ said:

I can't speak for other states but Oregon has the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training. All law enforcement personnel are required to maintain certification and can lose it by not adhering to standards of conduct.

Rogue cops are just like rogue everyone else. A function of corrupt or ineffectual management. One bad actor can create huge problems as we have seen.

Cops have an “us vs them” attitude. “As long as I go home safe”, and referring to the people they’re hired to protect as “civilians”..

They’re flying an alternate *flag* for chrissake!

The terminology used is showing as a symptom of the disorder. By separating themselves from “us”, we’re not valued at the same value.

There’s no need to reconcile or diffuse things with your neighbors and friends in the community because they’re “them”.. separate and unequal.

The pot is completely spoiled, and it’s been poisoned so badly that it needs to be tossed out.

For the first hundred years in this country, there weren’t any “police”.. so there IS a way to create a new pot that actually has real oversight and accountability.

The idea that a couple cops could knock down a senior citizen in public, on camera, in daylight- then 52 of them would “resign” as “special response” officers *because there was a tiny bit of accountability* shows you the attitude that we’re dealing with. They’re out of control and must be stopped.

4 Votes
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