Every Nurse Should Know Martial Arts

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

I'm always amazed at how nurses are unprotected against an increasingly hostile and dangerous public, not only physically but also legally.  Especially the ones who work in nursing facilities (like me). I always teach the young nurses to never get near patients who are having behavior problems. I learned by experience by being punched on the face one time. To always stay arm's length from these patients. And never engage with them on any level. Fortunately, the police department is 5 min. away from us so I call the officer or their asses every chance I get and they are there right away. Nursing is so hard because we are not only abused by our bosses but abused by our patients too. 

[Davey Do]

With all due respect for a thread caring about Nurses' safety, LDT, I beg to differ with your premise.

I've dealt with acting out behavior Patients & Clients since I was 18 years old, in a variety of settings, an untold number of times. There are protection and de-escalation techniques which work, other than martial arts.

Martial arts are good for anybody to know, but we, as Nurses, can only use protective and escape moves. For example, I took a Taekwondo course as a adolescent and used a couple of moves, that I had learned, several times in my career.

Using martial arts while working as a Nurse with Patients is a sticky wicket.

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

Yes, of course. Half of the benefits and advantages of martial arts are defense. I didn't suggest starting to kick patients into submission. ?

[Davey Do]

36 minutes ago, Leonardo Del Toro said:

 I didn't suggest starting to kick patients into submission. ?

Yeah, even if they have it coming!

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

If you are going to learn a martial art, then the ideal one for nurses would be brazilian jiu jitsu. https://www.trustedhealth.com/blog/chuck-meyers-nursing-self-defense

[B52, BSN, MSN, RN]

I studied martial arts for many years and I earned a black belt, but I find that my verbal de-escalation skills work well in the workplace.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

We are offered, and I have taken, CBI training, which is specific to nursing/health care. How to keep oneself out of danger and ways to get out of physical situations. It was a really cool class 

[Queen Tiye, RN]

14 hours ago, mmc51264 said:

We are offered, and I have taken, CBI training, which is specific to nursing/health care. How to keep oneself out of danger and ways to get out of physical situations. It was a really cool class 

I don’t like the defensive component of CPI — the component we use when we are actively being attacked.  We basically only get to put our hands out and get the hell kicked out of us as we back away.  We should be using defensive/ deflective martial arts techniques.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

not sure how feasible that would be. Can barely get people to do required CE and what training we do offer. 

[SmilingBluEyes]

EVERY nurse (and other health care provider) should not be subjected to physical violence.

I am unsure how practical this is as the hospitals I worked in did not even have metal detectors. It's all fun and games until they pull a gun or knife on ya.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I absolutely agree that no one should be subjected to violence but as I said, how would you get people to "buy in" to this?  The CBI training is evidenced-based, as far as I know. 

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

23 hours ago, mmc51264 said:

not sure how feasible that would be. Can barely get people to do required CE and what training we do offer. 

Management does not care too much about nurses safety, as evidenced by how many hours of work and tasks they make us do. My point is - you should protect yourself. And the rule #1 is to be aware of how to get out of the way and practice self defense. Where I work I always try to teach young nurses not to ever put their faces near a combative or suspicious character. Always stay arm's length away, never let them get closer to arm's length to you...and so the story goes...