ER violence

[night fox]

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

[keiah]

as a student nurse, i have had also my experience in ER being harass by the family member of the our patient saying that we dont give any attention or any treatment to his son. the fact that we already done our independent roles as student nurses, yet, the mom of our patient still seeking for more visible actions but HELLO! we can't do our jobs without the physician's order.

[RunningWithScissors]

If only making threats and violence in the ER were treated as seriously as they are on an airplane! Wouldn't it be great if those people could be charged and carted off to jail for these actions! Unfortunatly, we are martyrs in healthcare. Nobody cares about the nurse, but hit a stewardess and you're toast!

Threatening staff with weapons and bodily injury DOES put many people in jepoardy, as in an airplane; if the nurse is injured and taken out of service, what about the acute MI coming in the door and the delay of his care could mean his life.

[pipersjo, ADN, BSN, MSN]

Just wanted to point out that the violence is not only in the ER anymore. I work on the floor, and we had a patient's family decide to wait until the pt got to the floor to try to finish the job. I realize that most of the violence is still in the ER, but not only there anymore.

[obliviousRN]

I have been kicked, slapped, spit on, verbally assaulted, and choked. The choking was the worst - I had to hit back on that one.