New nurse here...slapped today by patient.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So...I'm a new RN, still in orientation mode. I was starting an IV on a patient, my primary nurse was present as well as a student we had with us. The patient's husband was also present.

I started the IV, I was getting ready to place the tegaderm on and BAM.

She slapped me straight across the face...pretty hard too. No mark, but it stung. I just left the room immediately, that was my first instinct. My primary nurse was dealing with the patient.

Anyway, the patient was an older lady....77, but she was A/O x3. NOT a confused patient, she later said she thought we were just "playing with her" I'm assuming she thought this because the student was watching? I don't know. She knew we needed to start a new IV, her IV infiltrated.

So, my question is this....at what point does a nurse actually look at a situation as being assaulted. If this lady slapped me across the face in the middle of the grocery store, I would have called the police.

What is that fine line? What if she bruised my face? Is that different?

Any advice is appreciated.

Specializes in Geriatrics, med/surg, LTC surveyor.

How old was this lady? I agree that if she was alert and oriented X3 that it is assault. I have never been hit but I have seen it happen. I would press charges. Assault is assault and it is very traumatic. :bow:

I commend you for walking out of the room. The first instinct alot of times is to strike back. You didn't. You kept your cool and left the room.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
How old was this lady? I agree that if she was alert and oriented X3 that it is assault. I have never been hit but I have seen it happen. I would press charges. Assault is assault and it is very traumatic. :bow:

I commend you for walking out of the room. The first instinct alot of times is to strike back. You didn't. You kept your cool and left the room.

:lol2: I think the first instinct for me would be to ask her why she slapped me and delve past her really strange answer. She did not have her right mind about her, I think. Presumably, the procedure and its necessity for it had been made clear to her. I wish the OP would come back and give us the last installment. :nuke::banghead::confused:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in medical-neuro icu.

First of all, being "Old and frail" does not make you immune to the consequences of your actions if you are in your right mind. The law is the law, period. You do not have to tolerated abuse at your job. You have the right to refuse to care for her again and you MUST press charges or she'll continue with her behavior. This is assault and battery and you are protected under the law. Follow through or it sets an "it's ok," example.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I had worked long term care as a LPN for about a year. I have been punched in the face, slapped, kicked, pinched and one tryed to bite me. I have never done anything to causes this behavior. They were confused so I really dont get too upset about it. I have told people in thier right mind that I will not tolerate being cussed at, threatened, groped, hit and if they continue to do this, (I make sure they are in a safe position rails up call light within reach) and leave the room and tell them i will come back in a few minutes to check on them. They usually calm down and have a better attitude when I come back.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, ED, Psych.

I am tired of Hospital management not supporting the staff when crap hits the fan. In a worst-case situation, I would not be suprised in the least if out management blamed the nurses if there was an assault, murder, rape, and cannabalism on the unit. I have said it before and I will say it again "What ever happens, I will ALWAYS be the nurses fault". For example, if there is a terror attack on the hospital - nope it not Osama Bin Ladin's fault, its the RN's fault. If there is a 10.5 earthquake and patients are killed on the unit, Its the RN's fault.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, ER.

I wouldn't have hit the old lady back, but believe me, she just bought herself a lovely set of four point leather restraints.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC & Teaching.
I am tired of Hospital management not supporting the staff when crap hits the fan. In a worst-case situation, I would not be suprised in the least if out management blamed the nurses if there was an assault, murder, rape, and cannabalism on the unit. I have said it before and I will say it again "What ever happens, I will ALWAYS be the nurses fault". For example, if there is a terror attack on the hospital - nope it not Osama Bin Ladin's fault, its the RN's fault. If there is a 10.5 earthquake and patients are killed on the unit, Its the RN's fault.

Quite true. The blame that is continuously directed at frontline nurses occurs in a wide range of practice settings, not just hospitals. I have little patience when I hear any victims of violence being balmed for the incident. No one asks to be assaulted, raped, bullied, abused, etc.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critcal Care.

What can I say? Your private and/or private lawyer. Getting into pockets and public knowledge that you are not to be messed with is priceless.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

truly, we nor the student nurse have enough info.Being a/o x 3 doesn't rule out a dementia. I think the hubby may have said to wife"you have nothing to be sorry about" because he knows her faculties are,maybe at times, problematic; uti is a possibility, being on ms04 is a possibility,as are other drugs that can disrupt the elderly thinking process.you don't always "see it coming" when an elderly pt. becomes combative. btw, was she from a ltc facility? even w/ some dementia, a pt. will feel remorse after their neg. behavior. sue

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Acute Care.

It is because of things like what the poster above said that we even start to question these things. We are trained to take abuse in nursing school. They do a far better job of training us to be abused than they do to train us to be competent, caring or skilled. If fact, it seems to be the focus of most nursing schools. There is no reason you should tolerate any amount of abuse in any area of nursing.

It trully scares/saddens me how true this seems at the moment... :o

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Well, here it is more than a year after I first read this topic and now more than ever it bothers me that a nurse got slapped by an obviously ill patient and the the advice experienced nurses are giving has zero focus on the patient. sue, sue sue, make money in court. Teach that old lady a lesson. After all, it is all about the nurse.

Considering how toxic and self centered some of the replies have been, it is safe to assume that some of the people at this site are going to be bitter old people slapping nurses when they get to that age. Since reading that post I have been struck by several disoriented/confused patients and it never crossed my mind to sue them. My first reaction has been to try and figure out why they did it, what I can do to help them and how to keep myself as well as the patient safe in the future.

Some of the worst patients I have had are bitter old nurses that treat staff like total crap. When I see them I am really happy I didnt have to work with them when they were young and bitter. The worst family members I have had to deal with are bitter old nurses that know how to cause problems and go out of their way to do it. I bet they would have called the police and sued that old lady also.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatric, long-term, home health, ICU.

At the very least I would file an incident report, report this to her physician, and request a psych eval. Somethings not right there. I've worked w/ demented and mental patients who are a/o x3 at the time of assessment and then turn on me like Linda Blair. I hope it all works out and I'm sorry this happened to you :(

Jenn

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment