ED Safety: Assaults up, drug calls up, security down

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Specializes in ED.

Safety has always been a concern where I work and it is becoming more and more of a pet peeve issue for me. Even the national media is reporting that assaults against ER staff are on the rise. The down economic is forcing some hospitals to downsize security staff and measures. We have a hospital security department but they don't carry tazers, handcuffs or other tools. We have locks on our doors outside but anyone inside can let people in, and the locks don't always work. I work in a trauma center in high-crime area so we have shootings, gangs, stabbings etc. Our administration seems to make security a low priority and the local police don't like to do anything. It's a frustrating situation. I would like to see nurses lobby for laws that would increase charges or add a special charge for assaulting ED staff. I'm not sure how well that would work though, especially when the police don't like to do anything under the current laws. I also think that adding safety measures to a union contract would be a good idea. How do your hospitals protect you? We recently tried to get a metal detector for our ED but the administration doesn't want to put it in because it would reflect negatively on hospital aesthetics. :madface:

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I volunteer in the ED of a Level 1 Trauma center also in a city with high crime (gangs, shootings, stabbings etc.)

We have a metal detector that comes on every night. They don't use it during the day because it isn't needed. We have security 24/7 and they carry tazers and guns. At least it looks like a gun. Could be a fake, but I doubt it.

There are security cameras all over the garages and the security guards are always watching them. They've prevented many crimes this way.

The safety isn't just for the employees, it's for the visitors as well. There have been many confrontations in the visitor lobby(which is where the metal detector is) or right outside.

It seems there are almost always police officers or sheriffs in the ED also, mainly because they are bringing in injured criminals for treatment.

I think you should lobby for safety. I do not think it would reflect poorly on the hospital. Many people don't feel safe going to certain parts of town and I think it would help for them to know that the hospital cares about everyone's safety.

The hospital has no control over what crimes goes down around them, they can only control what happens on their property.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Laws making it a felony to assault an ED worker were just shot down (no pun intended) in Virginia. :( It's very frustrating. I'm in a small ED on the fringes of the DC 'burbs, and even in our area, we get stabbings, GSWs, and gang activity. Our police are fabulous, and we have a good relationship with them, but still ... being drunk, psychotic, or on drugs doesn't given anyone the right to harm or threaten anyone else. I'm afraid it's going to take a dire incident/outcome to wake people up to the realities of the dangers we face in the ED. My mother-in-law sent me an AOL Health article this past week about ED violence being on the rise.

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I think its a joke how most hospitals don't take security seriously. I understand the customer service and friendly environment, but you need to keep people safe too. I work at a level 1 trauma center in the middle of a high crime area, I have more then enough tools including a firearm to keep myself and the staff safe. However, even with my tools, I've been assaulted 9 times since January, 3 of which went to the County Attorney as Agg Assault. Only 2 of those assaults were one on one encounters between me and a prick. The other 7 were in defense of staff members in the ED. So I sympathize with your situation. I'm at the point where I'm getting ready to get out of hospital security, but I know when I'm done with nursing school, that the security measures a hospital has in place will be taken into consideration when and where I apply for jobs.

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Specializes in ICU.
Safety has always been a concern where I work and it is becoming more and more of a pet peeve issue for me. Even the national media is reporting that assaults against ER staff are on the rise. The down economic is forcing some hospitals to downsize security staff and measures. We have a hospital security department but they don't carry tazers, handcuffs or other tools. We have locks on our doors outside but anyone inside can let people in, and the locks don't always work. I work in a trauma center in high-crime area so we have shootings, gangs, stabbings etc. Our administration seems to make security a low priority and the local police don't like to do anything. It's a frustrating situation. I would like to see nurses lobby for laws that would increase charges or add a special charge for assaulting ED staff. I'm not sure how well that would work though, especially when the police don't like to do anything under the current laws. I also think that adding safety measures to a union contract would be a good idea. How do your hospitals protect you? We recently tried to get a metal detector for our ED but the administration doesn't want to put it in because it would reflect negatively on hospital aesthetics. :madface:

Simple...YOU are responsible for your personal safety. From your post, it's obvious that your hospital management could care less about the safety/security of its employees.

Lobbying for laws will result in....more laws. Go figure!:cool: More/stricter laws will have ZERO effect on an idjit's willingness to assault you in your ER...or on the street. Do capital punishment/life imprisonment laws result in fewer fatal assaults? Nope. Please be careful to differentiate between "feel good" security measures, versus those that will TRULY make a difference.

In my not-so-humble opinion, either plan on protecting yourself (& be willing to accept the non-PC consequences for doing so), or move on to another employer who values its employees.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

We had multiple school shootings, but it took Columbine before people started even thinking about school safety. Sadly, I think it's going to take a "Columbine" scale shoot out in a ER/ICU with resultant casualties before it dawns on Joe Public how dangerous the hospital can be to us. Just today, Woman fatally shoots husband, self at Las Vegas hospital - Monday, Aug. 16, 2010 | 6:38 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun a woman killed her husband and then turned the weapon on herself in a murder/suicide.

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine.
our administration seems to make security a low priority and the local police don't like to do anything. it's a frustrating situation. i would like to see nurses lobby for laws that would increase charges or add a special charge for assaulting ed staff. i'm not sure how well that would work though, especially when the police don't like to do anything under the current laws.

enforcement not legislation.

i don't know your story. what are the police failing to do?

i send people to jail all the time. we have a great rapport

with the local po-po. if it's a case of someone acting out it's

bu-bye! off to the gray-room hilton with them.

if it's a problem with mental health patients that become violent

i would blame your doctor for not handling their emotions "chemically".

i have been in hospitals with great security and poor security.

i have concealed-carried when appropriate in the er to protect

myself and others. the threat to you and me is very real.

(oh, and a glock 23 in .40cal carries well under scrubs)

take an active role in your own survival. you are hired to provide

care and comfort not lose your front teeth. if you can't handle it

get out of the way. run. hide. protect yourself first!

it is just not worth it...

glock23a.jpg

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Specializes in Emergency.

what state are you guys in where you can carry concealed in a hospital??? It is illegal here in Texas for a CHL holder to carry in the hospital... I must be in the wrong state lol

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Laws making it a felony to assault an ED worker were just shot down (no pun intended) in Virginia. :( It's very frustrating. I'm in a small ED on the fringes of the DC 'burbs, and even in our area, we get stabbings, GSWs, and gang activity. Our police are fabulous, and we have a good relationship with them, but still ... being drunk, psychotic, or on drugs doesn't given anyone the right to harm or threaten anyone else. I'm afraid it's going to take a dire incident/outcome to wake people up to the realities of the dangers we face in the ED. My mother-in-law sent me an AOL Health article this past week about ED violence being on the rise.

It's Battery 2nd here. FELONY! :D

That's recent. It applied to officers first, then later EMS came along, and then doctors were added along with "others," lol. Teachers and I believe military servicemembers are included in there too.

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enforcement not legislation.

i don't know your story. what are the police failing to do?

i send people to jail all the time. we have a great rapport

with the local po-po. if it's a case of someone acting out it's

bu-bye! off to the gray-room hilton with them.

if it's a problem with mental health patients that become violent

i would blame your doctor for not handling their emotions "chemically".

i have been in hospitals with great security and poor security.

i have concealed-carried when appropriate in the er to protect

myself and others. the threat to you and me is very real.

(oh, and a glock 23 in .40cal carries well under scrubs)

take an active role in your own survival. you are hired to provide

care and comfort not lose your front teeth. if you can't handle it

get out of the way. run. hide. protect yourself first!

it is just not worth it...

glock23a.jpg

lol. i got ridiculed in another thread for taking this approach. go ahead my sheep dog, brother (or sister). i've been wondering how i'm going to conceal my weapon under scrubs.

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what state are you guys in where you can carry concealed in a hospital??? It is illegal here in Texas for a CHL holder to carry in the hospital... I must be in the wrong state lol

It's not illegal in Arkansas, but most hospitals have the sign prohibiting concealed weapons carry. Oh well, I'm going to try and remain an officer in some capacity so the heck with the sign. I'm exempt. Same applies to me as a student in nursing school.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
It's Battery 2nd here. FELONY! :D

Just up the road from me in West-by-God-Virginia, it's a felony as well. Cross the line into Virginia, as many of our patients do, and it's a misdemeanor. I was dismayed to read a comment on a local news site under an article about the push in Virginia to make it a felony ... a person opined that a class 1 misdemeanor (assault/battery) was sufficient punishment, as long as the person was prosecuted to the extent of the law, and that there was "no need" to change it. Heh. Come work with me and get hit/kicked/grabbed/spit upon, and then let me know how you feel.

Of course, we've been distracted by the serial stabber recently. I hope they really caught the right person, but I'll continue to let security escort me to my vehicle!

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