Do nurses get away with nurse brutality

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2018

I think most rational people would be able to tell the difference between inserting a feeding tube that is medically necessary and the police shooting a guy in his own backyard because they "thought his cell phone was a gun."

DesiDani · Apr 18, 2018

Police brutality can be without a gun too. If the neighboring patient can be spooked they can perceive your actions as unjustifiable. It is a matter of perspective

AceOfHearts<3 · Apr 18, 2018

Police brutality can be without a gun too. If the neighboring patient can be spooked they can perceive your actions as unjustifiable. It is a matter of perspective

I don't get what your agenda is. I know far more nurses that have been hurt by patients than the opposite. In fact, I don't know of any patients hurt by a nurse, but I truly can't say the same in reverse.

I've had security called emergently by other nurses on my unit when a very large patient was extremely agitated. EVERYONE thought he was going to start taking swings at me and he could have done A LOT of damage. This was the second time within an hour to two the patient got like that and we could not deescalate it. We had security, doctors, and other nurses helping to deescalate the situation and it was doing no good. The patient ripped his IV out and we had no other choice than IM haldol. Our goal was for everyone to remain safe- patient and staff.

I could go on and on about violence against nurses. Nurses kicked, hit, bit, etc. A patient purposefully breaking the arm of a nurse. Items thrown violently at nurses.

cardiacfreak, ADN · Apr 18, 2018

I think most rational people would be able to tell the difference between inserting a feeding tube that is medically necessary and the police shooting a guy in his own backyard because they "thought his cell phone was a gun."

This!

Restraining and killing are two different things.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2018

Police brutality can be without a gun too. If the neighboring patient can be spooked they can perceive your actions as unjustifiable. It is a matter of perspective

Um, the first rule of nurse fight club is to remove all witnesses prior to brutalizing a patient. Why on Earth would you have a coherent non-hospital personnel as a witness? Unless you're planning on administering the "handol" to that person next...

psu_213, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2018

Police brutality can be without a gun too. If the neighboring patient can be spooked they can perceive your actions as unjustifiable. It is a matter of perspective

I don't want to get onto a debate on police brutality...that is way beyond the scope of AN.

Specifically, solely on the issue of nursing interventions...who cares what a neighboring patient perceives? I don't like dropping an NG on an 85 year old combative woman with dementia (it can be pretty bad with a 35 year old male body builder too!!). But if she (or her POA) decides/decided she is getting full treatment, that is a necessary part of the job. If the patient screams, I really do feel bad about it, but it is an unfortunate side of providing the proper care. I'm sure the patient next door will not like the screaming, agony, etc., but unfortunately sometimes that has to happen as part of treatment.

As others have said, there is a big difference between a neighboring patient's view on a medical procedure as opposed a persons view on the police shooting someone with a cell phone.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2018

Um, the first rule of nurse fight club is to remove all witnesses. Why on Earth would you have a coherent non-hospital personnel as a witness? Unless you're planning on administering the "handol" to that person next...

I agree, but I have had someone open a door while we were inserting a Foley, putting in a NG, etc., and then "oh wait, my mom's in the room next door. Sorry." :madface:

Sour Lemon · Apr 18, 2018

Nurses like police are supposed to remain calm and professional at all times. What someone sees is a matter of perspective. We can close the curtain, so that 6 person team to give a combative patient handol is not displayed on the news. Or straining someone's grandma to put in a ng tube.
If the public saw what we had to do would we too be accused of brutality?

Probably not ...because Grandma might not like the NG tube insertion, but she received some benefit from having it placed. Even a person restrained and given haldol becomes less psychotic and less of a danger to himself.

Police and nurses have different "goals" for lack of a better word. Even when we're protecting others, we're working for the patient's benefit. In some police cases, the priority (or only task) is protecting "others".

pixierose, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2018

Police brutality can be without a gun too. If the neighboring patient can be spooked they can perceive your actions as unjustifiable. It is a matter of perspective

Maybe it's because I'm tired. Maybe it's because I'm sore.

But **** that perspective.

I have gotten hurt a LOT by patients. I work in a psych ED. It's become a norm. It SHOULDN'T be.

A patient of mine has NEVER gotten hurt.

So yeah. The common folk don't see the 16 hours of CPI training I went through (each year) to safely restrain someone. They haven't seen the time spent trying to deescalate. They didn't see me get spit on, shoved, kicked and punched.

**** that perspective. They're not volunteering to do my job, are they?

MunoRN, RN · Apr 18, 2018

I wish the public were more willing to see what we commonly do as brutality, but unfortunately the public and family members tend to be more likely to disagree with us when we say that what they are asking us to do is essentially brutality.

allnurses Guide · Apr 18, 2018

I wish the public were more willing to see what we commonly do as brutality, but unfortunately the public and family members tend to be more likely to disagree with us when we say that what they are asking us to do is essentially brutality.

Are you talking about CPR? Or what?