You are absolutely right!
I was the victim of an attack about a week ago by and alert and oriented pt. He was totally out of control until the police walked into his room -at that moment he became very calm and quiet! He acknowledged that he should not have hit me and apologized to the police officer (not to me). I did indeed file charges and am waiting to go to court on this. Nurses seem to be "fair game" for these bullies and unfortunately administration does NOTHING to prevent or control this type of behavior. In fact I believe that this type of behavior is promoted by the motto that "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT" Whoever came up with this type of moronic thinking? Of course the customer, patient, client is not always right, how ridiculous this is!
To date no one from administration has even acknowledged that I was injured or that I was attacked, perhaps if it were their mother or their sister they would be more inclined to do something about it!
I would really love to see all hospitals adopt a ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY towards workplace violence be it verbal or physical.
Until nurses start acting then nothing is going to be done about it. I know of several other nurses that have been hit, spit at, cursed at, kicked, slapped etc. all by alert and oriented people and they have done nothing for fear of losing their jobs etc.Nurses.......wake up!!!! Administrators wake up!!
Quote from atainey
For those of you interested in "calling 911" etc... The protocol is to call your local police department's non-emergency line, and state that you need an officer to come take a report for assault.
I currently work at a residential treatment center for adolescents, and we have occasional physical assaults. Formally reporting them has become a very effective way to cut down on attacks, when the patients realize they must pay consequences for their actions.
So list those local police numbers in a visible place, and don't hesitate to call!
I was the victim of an attack about a week ago by and alert and oriented pt. He was totally out of control until the police walked into his room -at that moment he became very calm and quiet! He acknowledged that he should not have hit me and apologized to the police officer (not to me). I did indeed file charges and am waiting to go to court on this. Nurses seem to be "fair game" for these bullies and unfortunately administration does NOTHING to prevent or control this type of behavior. In fact I believe that this type of behavior is promoted by the motto that "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT" Whoever came up with this type of moronic thinking? Of course the customer, patient, client is not always right, how ridiculous this is!
To date no one from administration has even acknowledged that I was injured or that I was attacked, perhaps if it were their mother or their sister they would be more inclined to do something about it!
I would really love to see all hospitals adopt a ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY towards workplace violence be it verbal or physical.
Until nurses start acting then nothing is going to be done about it. I know of several other nurses that have been hit, spit at, cursed at, kicked, slapped etc. all by alert and oriented people and they have done nothing for fear of losing their jobs etc.Nurses.......wake up!!!! Administrators wake up!!
Hello to all. Iam new to this forum and to allnurses.com. My best wishes to all!
