ER violence

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hi

I'm interested in knowing what types of violent situations you may have been exposed to in the ER. Does a lot of it come from drunks?

Thanks

Matt

Specializes in ER, telemetry.

I have never been hit, but have taken care of pts that have been combative. Usually old demented people. Drunks are no fun, but usually easily talked down or subdued. Head injuries are the worst. Combative, uncooperative, but you can't give them anything to calm them d/t their head injury. Psych pts can unpredictable, of course. Be on your toes at all times. They tend to bond with one person, though, and that one person can usually talk them down. The pt's I hate taking care of are detoxing pts. They turn into psych pts because they become delusional and confused. At night, beginning at 6pm, we have a deputy on duty at the front desk until 7am. That usually helps out with rowdy waiting pts and family members. The PD seem to always be in the ER too.

Specializes in ER, telemetry.

Just started reading some of the old posts on tazers. If I felt SO unsafe at my job to need a tazer, I would find another job. Nurses have many, many other opportunitites. I do not want to taze anyone, nor cause any other harm to another person. I might pepper spray someone heavily though if need be.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Violence is one of the attractive components to working in the ER.

Tazer heck no, Smack them with a pitching wedge, personally I prefer a 52 degree one.has a very good smack factor. works very well.

I read all of these and cringed most at the post about threatening to hit a nurse......if any pt threatens to hit me, I drop what I'm doing and walk out and I refuse to care for that pt any further. House supe would get involved and an incident report written. That nurse may have been following her hospital policy...the number of sticks allowed per nurse varies from place to place.

Specializes in ER.

In the ER I work at, I have been verbally assaulted (no biggie), but there have been instances in which my co-workers and I have been kicked at, punched, spit on, and other forms of physical assault. We have great security officers who are always there to step in. We are very liberal in use of restraints and seclusion. It's just part of the job.

Specializes in er,cvicu,icu.

I work in mid-size ER on the "nice" side of my town. "nice" compared to my sister hospital which is right in the middle of crack alley. You would think that we would see very little violence. But the people on the mean side of town figured out that our wait times were shorter, so now they are coming to my nice ER. The problem is becoming out of control. I have a security guard posted in my lobby, but he is not allowed to touch anyone that is being violent he doesn't even have a weapon and most of them are about 65 years old. So now every weekend we nurses are being called names, threatend and at times harassed by the ff that are in the ER for their fix. I have worked in ERs for almost 20 years so I am pretty used to this, my problem in the ER is that the admin. insist on putting my first and last name on my name badge! Never in any ER have I had my full name on my badge for the ER freaks to see, taking into consideration that I live in a midsized southern town, I have on more than one occassion seen an ER pt in the grocery store or the mall. I guess I'm just wondering do other ERs now insist on handing over my name to angry drug addicts or is it just my ER?

Specializes in ED-CEN/PACU/Flight.
my problem in the ER is that the admin. insist on putting my first and last name on my name badge!

In my ER they have the first name, and first letter of last name on the front, and FULL name on the back. And we all know that our lovely badges won't stay on the proper way...

I told my management that my last name has NO bearing on how I perform my duties, that I would accept the first letter of the last name, but in no way, shape, or form would I allow the full name (I once had a psych patient track me down and start calling me repeatedly).

So I took the matter into my own hands - I took a bottle of White Out and applied it over every letter in my last name except for the first one, "H", so it would match the front of my name tag.

The very first time someone started to say something, I reminded them of the psych patient, and told them it was THEIR responsibility to ensure I had a safe work environment, and it wasn't very safe or secure if my work life spilled over into my home environment, and I didn't appreciate the fact that their policy made me feel as though my children were at risk.

Not another word was ever said...

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Violence in the ER is perfectly acceptable

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

as long as I'm the perpetrator of it

I am an ex prison nurse and ex military. As a prison nurse I attended an 8 week course with the officers and became a badged officer myself. When I left and came to the ED I was told by administation I could not use any of the pressure holds I was taught at the prison????? Pressure point restraint only hurts if the person does not do as he is asked and there is no permanent harm but you can take down a 300 lb guy easily with it. (I am only 120 lbs)

So instead I am supposed to let someone choke me (I had that by a very quiet psych pt on my first day of work) When someone is trying to hit me I am not allowed to grab their hand and press a certain area and make them docile???What happens if my co worker is in trouble why should'nt I be able to stop the perpetrator from hurting them if I can will little effort and no damage to the patient or family member. I do not feel I should wait for security to come before I do anything because frankly I put more faith in me then our security staff. (when I was being coked and hit a security officer was not 6 ft away and did nothing he did not even get off the chair before I was able to break the hold. It makes no sense. Administration was informed what happened and the security officers actions and nothing happened he is still there "protecting me"

Hate to say it but when I was choked I broke the hold with pressure points otherwise I would have been dead or babdly hurt. I will continue to use my skills for protection only and it is my hope if I use it to restain someone from hurting my coworker or myself my coworkers will stand by me.

How can administatration say I cannot protect myself, it makes no sense. When you take a defence course should you not be able to kick someone who is attacking you?I am not a black belt and my hands are not listed as lethal weapons.

The most dangerous people are the quiet ones, the confused 80 year old female the quiet psych pt and the quiet family member pacing.)The drunks are controllable the people who come in cambative they just get restrained and medicated.

I am an ex prison nurse and ex military. As a prison nurse I attended an 8 week course with the officers and became a badged officer myself. When I left and came to the ED I was told by administation I could not use any of the pressure holds I was taught at the prison????? Pressure point restraint only hurts if the person does not do as he is asked and there is no permanent harm but you can take down a 300 lb guy easily with it. (I am only 120 lbs)

So instead I am supposed to let someone choke me (I had that by a very quiet psych pt on my first day of work) When someone is trying to hit me I am not allowed to grab their hand and press a certain area and make them docile???What happens if my co worker is in trouble why should'nt I be able to stop the perpetrator from hurting them if I can will little effort and no damage to the patient or family member. I do not feel I should wait for security to come before I do anything because frankly I put more faith in me then our security staff. (when I was being coked and hit a security officer was not 6 ft away and did nothing he did not even get off the chair before I was able to break the hold. It makes no sense. Administration was informed what happened and the security officers actions and nothing happened he is still there "protecting me"

Hate to say it but when I was choked I broke the hold with pressure points otherwise I would have been dead or babdly hurt. I will continue to use my skills for protection only and it is my hope if I use it to restain someone from hurting my coworker or myself my coworkers will stand by me.

How can administatration say I cannot protect myself, it makes no sense. When you take a defence course should you not be able to kick someone who is attacking you?I am not a black belt and my hands are not listed as lethal weapons.

The most dangerous people are the quiet ones, the confused 80 year old female the quiet psych pt and the quiet family member pacing.)The drunks are controllable the people who come in cambative they just get restrained and medicated.

I would actually look up your state legislation in regards to self-defense, inquire where the SBON stands on this issue, etc. I don't think I've read anywhere that when one becomes a nurse they suddenly lose the right to defend themselves.

Not only do I think you have the right to protect yourself using pressure points, I also think this method should be offered/taught taught to staff, especially in high risk areas.

Specializes in ER.

We used to have first and last names on our badges, but in response to heavy pressure from the staff after a security issue, our badges no longer have our last names or even initials.

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