I think I read an article here somewhere that stated nurses are assaulted more than any other profession.
In my short 2 years as an RN, I've been assaulted (or seen other RN's assaulted) by patients MORE times than I can count (and I don't work in Psych)! I don't blame the patients who attacked me because their illnesses caused major changes in mental status and they didn't know what they were doing.
I DO, however, blame the RN's, Nursing assistants or MD's who DON'T know how to interact with these people and only make things WORSE! Do NOT snicker or giggle at a patient no matter how ridiculous their behavior might be....it doesn't help! And if a fellow nurse says "I need help in here" or "call security", please take it seriously!!!
I'm just a student and an ED volunteer, but no one would dare harm me. I mean, I sit with security and they have tasers and guns.
You are lucky, as that is not where the majority of nurses work. We do not have tasers, guns, or security at our sides. It is a ashame that nurses are not protected from patients who ARE aware of their surroundings, etc. I blame the employer's who seem to care more about how their facility "looks" as opposed to how their nurses are treated.
Can you imagine working for a facility who really looked out and protected their nurses? I know there would be no turnover problems there!!!
I don't think it's "normal", but it does happen. If I'd known before I became an RN, I probably would have Still become and RN...I did it for all those people who need compassionate nursing care; but I just wish I'd been taught how to deal with such situations. There are times when I could've been harmed by patients, but because of my age (I think) and life experience, I knew how to "talk them down" to a point where I wasn't such a threat. It really is a skill that NEEDS to be addressed in nursing school!!
I'm an SN, still have a ways to go before I become an RN.. do you have any advice you can share about talking patients down?
Specializes in med surg, cardiac step down, rehab, geri.
after reading all of the replies regarding assaults at work I wonder if there is anything nurses in massachusetts can do to press charges against these patients?
I have been hit by another nurse and I made the mistake of letting the don and human resources deal with it
what a mistake it was a joke nothing was done to that nurse what I should have done was press legal charges against her hind site is 20/20
as for patients I have had some threaten me stating they are going to throw a colostomy bag in my face
and I have told them it is a felony to assault a medical or law enforcement professional with bodily fluids or waste
secondary to the possibility of HIV and Hep it worked!
facilities do nothing to enforce proper conduct in medical facilities the co I work for does LTC , short term rehab post op and has a locked dementia unit we are verbally abused daily, some have been hit kicked slapped and nothing is done until it's a patient to patient altercation then the offender is sectioned to a psych hosp ( which in some cases has taken days to do )
families are worse defending the offender by saying it's the staff and their approach lol
oh yes ' hello how are you? bam a swing and a hit" IF nurses and cnas actually pressed charges against the sane ones and it made the newspapers maybe just maybe people would at least pretend to respect the staff trying to heal them or if medical professionals actually sued them in courts they would think twice about their conduct.
today i had a male resident tell me that if he wanted to hit me, he could have. i walked away from him and reported what he said to the charge nurse. she pulled him aside and told him that that kind of talk is unacceptable.
kohala,
good for you! that's what's missing is reporting these people. instead of shrinking away because you think you will be fired; report your injuries so you are protected. if we continue to have sn, cna's, rn etc shy away from doing so, and then what happens is these "aware" patients become empowered. we are not dogs, we serve with care and compasion in our hearts and this abuse must stop. if this were done on the street, police would show up and the person must pay the price. the day i was told not to report something was the day i did exactly the opposite as it was the right thing to do in order to protect me. i had 4 stitches and a broken rib and was still told not to report. a week later i was called at home telling me 'they were sorry" and when could i come back to work.
so, please remember, if you do not report abuse of any sorts, you will be saying "it's ok for patients to abuse me", thus it only continues and trickles down to your peers.
it's your body and we only have one. no patient's (of course we are talking about aware patients) are ever going to put me out on disability and not be handed a consequence for their poor behavior by the hospital, ltc etc. again, some employers will tell you to turn a blind eye.
A situation happened in the LTC facility. A resident known for progressing dementia slapped a CNA full force for trying to coax her into taking her to the toilet. The Administrator decided to send the resident to a senior psych-care facility for a two week stint. Some of the nurses were very sympathetic to the resident, stating "if you just leave her alone, she would have calmed down." I wonder though, at what point should medication adjustment vs. just ignoring the behavior is best?
When I worked in long term facility as a CNA, I was kicked, punched, pinched, bitten, spit on, verbally abused, etc by patients. I have had bruises literally the size of softballs (bruises:yes, as in more than one of that size). Even though I followed the chain of command to report these incidents, nothing ever came of it, until one of my supervisors witnessed me get kicked so hard I flew across the room and hit a wall (granted I am pretty little). It is sad and upsetting that things have to come to this for anything to be done. As nurses, if situations are treated appropriately, we should not have to endure workplace violence.
I do work in psych. I agree. Most especially about the staff behavior - I've seen more situations escalated by clumsy interpersonal skills than through psychoses. I think some folks are so uncomfortable with the reality of violence or altered mental status that they are distracted from considering the impact of their behaviors.
I have been smacked and hit several times. I just had an old lady bite me on the arm, but did not break the skin, just a big bruise. It is par for the course when you work with the elderly and demented. Not a fun part of the job and something we have to sometimes get used to.
What I find disgusting is that I've seen MD's walk past a room, look in and see an RN (or RNs) being physically assaulted and continue to walk on!!!!
Just recently I took care of an ER pt who was altered as a result of an OD. Pt had pulled 3 lines while in hard 4 point restraints. Pt was critical so I had to get a line in asap though help was not immediately available. I started looking for a vein trying to buy myself some time hoping my tech would soon be done with a stat ekg and come to help me hold. The curtain was wide open. As soon as the docs/providers at the station saw me put the tourniquet on the pt I had 3 at the bedside helping me hold. Our docs are awesome, but yeah, I was a little surprised. :redpinkhe they love their nurses and we love them :redpinkhe
I did home health and was bit by my pt who was seven and had lots of mental problems and such but that didn't make me mad. The thing that made me mad was his foster mom laughing as it hurt. and the only reason why he bit me was because I took his B/P. His B/P was needed as his foster mom was going to call the Dr. as he was going through some health problems and it was low at the time. Also, he bit me another time too but his foster mom wasn't there and he had medicine to calm him down that he needed by injection. (His foster mom was a very good foster mom.) I did report it to my supervisor and she did make me write out an incident report. Thanks for all your responses. It helps to know what to do with some situations if ever faced with them and I hope I will be wise like some were here posting.
i've witnessed the staff getting bite by patients with open wounds and teeth marks + bleeding.
another staff got punched in the face and got a swollen black eye because the pt thought the staff was "talking crap" behind her back. in reality she was just taking vitals for another patient...
ohhhh it gets real bad. time to take out the ativan.. haldol... benadryl..
Fractured zygoma - don't know what hurt most my cheek or dented pride for not ducking in time!! Will go to my grave saying he got a lucky shot.
I pressed charges, the court felt that because he was heavily intoxicated he could not be held fully accountable for his actions so he received a nominal fine. Not police bashing but on the same day a police officer was in court having been assaulted in the line of duty and his perpetrator received a two year custodial sentence!! Still can't figure that one out.
kty1
131 Posts
You are lucky, as that is not where the majority of nurses work. We do not have tasers, guns, or security at our sides. It is a ashame that nurses are not protected from patients who ARE aware of their surroundings, etc. I blame the employer's who seem to care more about how their facility "looks" as opposed to how their nurses are treated.
Can you imagine working for a facility who really looked out and protected their nurses? I know there would be no turnover problems there!!!
Stay safe everyone!