Nurse assaulted

[Nursebarebari]

Two nights ago, a nurse at my job was assauted by a patient. The patient who was on methadone came to the ER around 4AM sunday. He was sedated and sent to a telemetry extension in the afternoon. He woke up in the night and asked for his 240 mg 10AM methadone that he missed at the clinic. The doctor could not verify the dose he claimed to get at the clininic because it was too late, so they ordered him 160mg. He got angry and grabbed the 120 pounds nurse and pinned her againt the wall. That telemetry extension is very small and is staffed with only 2 RNs or an RN and and a PCT or LPN. The area is only used when there is no bed in the hospital and the setting is more like ICU, no rooms, only curtains seperating the 8 beds. So a patient that was watching and did not know what to do pulled the fire alarm. Before any one arrived the second nurse who was picking up blood in the lab was back, she picked up a chair and threatened to hit the patient before he let go of the nurse. Ha, you need to see the frightened look on the poor nurse face. She was sent to the ER. Police was not called.

This is not the first time something like this had happened to my hospital. A doctor was nearly hit in the head with a pill crusher by a patient about 2 months ago. His reason was that the doctors was pushing him to sign AMA when he decided to go home before he was discharged. The lucky doctor was able to dodge the pill crusher when it came flying.

[tyloo]

Terrible that she was not permitted or strongly discouraged to not call the police. The hospital has no care for their employees welfare if this is the case. How far is too far? The results could have been devastating. I wish she would have called the police and filed assault. The addict needs to be accountable for his actions. Shame on the hospital for not supporting their staff. I wonder if the CEO would mind if he or she was pinned against the wall or had a pill crusher thrown at his or her head?

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Score one now for this ass****. Any nurse who is assaulted should call the police. It is not only a crime against a person, but against our profession. This should not be allowed. Even once the scene is safe, 911 should be called. If we want a safe environment to work in, we must make it that way. Management does not have our best interests at heart. She should still call the police, it is not too late. You could call the police yourself as you have knowledge of a crime. As for management, you should call you local news station (anonymously) and tell them that management is allowing nurses to be assaulted, protecting criminals, and covering up unsafe working conditions. We have to take care of our own.

[leslie :-D]

The police was not called because management did not allow us.

that totally sucks, that the hospital shows such blatant disregard toward's their employees well-being and rights to a safe environment.

the bottom line is, that nurse could (figuratively) tell the hospital to 'pound sand' and press charges anyway.

yes, they'd likely find a way to get rid of this nurse...but seriously, who wants to work in a place where the facility cares more about their reputation, than the injuries of an employee?

if the nurse sued, i'd bet my last dollar that she'd win, hands down.

but as another poster stated, life is about choices.

and it sounds like some bad ones were made.

i wish your friend well.

leslie

[Music in My Heart]

She agreed not to call the police because management did not want to be in the news. Some nurses were pushing her to call the police but she refused and decided to go with management decision. It was foolish. She was meeting with our union delegate yesterday and I dont know the outcome. All of us nurses will meet with the union 2pm today.

Were it me, I wouldn't ask for mgt's opinion... and I would call 911 prior to doing anything else. Management can worry about the PR... that's what they get paid for.

Zero tolerance for threats and violence -- irrespective of what management wants. Frankly, I'm of the belief that they're not entitled to an opinion given that they're not on the front lines.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Never ever just follow "legal" advice from an employer.

[Music in My Heart]

are you saying in your opinion it isnt a federal crime or it really, in real life, isnt a federal crime?

because i know in new york it is a federal crime

that probably holds true for other states, but i'm not really sure

Yes, I'm quite certain that it's not a federal crime. The statutes in individual states vary, of course, but federal crimes are not governed by state laws... they're the ones investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by US attorneys under the US Attorney General.

Whether it's a felony in any given state is determined by the legislatures or citizens (by referenda) of each state.

[noahsmama]

I would call the police, whether management likes it or not. Your workplace is unsafe and management is doing nothing to address it. Next incident could result in serious injury or even death. No job could possibly be worth this!

[rgroyer1RNBSN, BSN, RN]

Frankly, being an ER and SICU nurse manager and Coordinator, I encourage my nurses to call the cops and press charges, period, and if they dont I will call the cops for them. But then again I work in an urban trauma center in ST.Louis and your life may depend on it.

[lsk40]

So the hospitial is saying what happened to her is okay because that is the signal that was given when they told her not to call the police if you put your hands on me im calling the police because im trying to help you

[VanLpn]

I was assaulted at work a few months ago. I work in a very rough neighbourhood in addictions. There was 2 staff assaults within 3 days. I narrowly missed the first one where a staff member was hit with a metal coffee cup in the face and then he was pinned behind a desk and punched repeatedly. I helped oull the attacker off him. Then the assailant smashed the glass to the office. Two nights later I was punched in the eye...broke my glasses and had a balck eye for about a week. Police were called in both instances and charges laid against both individuals. Last week a nurse was punched in the face but she didn't press charges. Our workplace encourages us to press charges if staff are assaulted.

[mentalhealthRN]

It is her right to call the police and press charges and no hospital policy can override the law. Laws trump hospital policies. If they chose to terminate her for calling the police she can sue them for unlawful termination.

It sounds like the hospital needs to increase its security department if this kind of patient is a regular thing. I left a psych job due to staffing shortage which I felt put me at a higher then necessary risk to be seriously injured. You have to do what you need to to be safe and the hospital needs to take this kind of incident seriously and not just bury their heads in the sand which is what it sounds like they generally do.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

One time I was making rounds during the night and I touched the shoulder of a homeless man to rouse him from sleep in order to assess how the pain medication was working I had given him earlier. He came at me swinging, nearly punched me in my kisser! He apologized later for his spontaneous street smart action. From then on I took the liberties to touch the foot when waking a strong man from sleep.

Perhaps in the future nurses will be required to wear ppd of fulll body padding, riot-helmets and pepper spray when dealing with questionable patients? We are so vulnerable to personal injury when dealing with people at close range I'll have to admit.