Nurses, have you been been spit on, pushed, scratched and verbally or assaulted?

[Brian]

Unfortunately, it is quite common in the nursing profession to have had been assaulted one way or another by a patient at some point in your career.

For some reason, it is tolerated in the nursing profession and is just accepted as "part of the job"? Police do not tolerate this type of abuse, nor do most professions, why is it tolerated in the nursing profession?

Do to recent stories of fatal violence in hospitals, I wanted to poll all of you AN'ers and see what kind of percentage of nurses from all specialties have had to deal with violence in some fashion.

I think we all would like to see policies change to have a safer work environments, please share this poll with your nursing friends, Facebook etc.... Thanks

Related News:

• Violence in hospitals common for staff-CNN - Nursing for Nurses
  
• Visitor Shoots Doctor at Johns Hopkins
  
• Attacking a Doctor Makes News; Attacking a Nurse is Business As Usual - Nursing for Nurses
  

Please take a second and answer our poll, then if you wish, please share your stories of your experiences.

[sharpeimom]

i worked psych and was attacked by an approximately 400#+ ex-h*ll's angel type patient because i

wouldn't give him the injectible drugs he had demanded. he had ativan p.o. ordered and that was it.

i weighed about 115# back then and am barely 5'4", while he was well over 6' tall. he grabbed me by my right shoulder and left hip, twisted, and suddenly i was airborne. the staff initially just stood there

dumbstruck. he smirked and said, "make a wish, b**ch!"

suddenly security arrived!

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

This week I had my first instance with this. I was spit at. I was in the ER, trying to start the patient's IV, and he spit at me. Several times.

He was faking a head injury at the time. We are sure he was faking. However, since the claim of head injury muddies the picture, nothing will happen to the patient.

[realnursealso/LPN, LPN]

I've been slapped, scratched, had my hair pulled, had bm thrown at me. A co-worker and I had to wrestle a cane out of and old man's hand, as he jumped on the bed, welding the cane around his head and banging on the wall every time he swung it around. He scared the lady in the next room so bad, that when I went in her room she tried to punch me in the nose. Man's admitting diagnosis? Anemia and exhaustion. When my co-worker and I were finally able to get him into a gerichair , he wanted Betty to go on a date with him. (this was long ago when you could drop mom or dad off for a few days) When I worked in a nursing home I was grabbed in the butt or breasts, by old Al, who was 90, every time we cleaned him up. We used to find old Al, in the shower room with Ludmilla,(who couldn't speak english) who would go in the shower room and strip. I was slapped by many a nursing home resident, didn't hurt any less because they were confused. These all happened long ago. But just a few years ago doing staff relief, it was horrible. I was working on the rehab floor, lots of patients, a million meds. Med pass was a nightmare. Young guy, educated, back injury, thought I wasn't passing meds fast enough. Called me a stupid c_ _ t, he wanted his narcs, now! Went to NM, he told me to suck it up. I was so glad when same NM, was fired a few weeks later. Lots of nasty patients on the rehab floor. Many thought they were the only person who needed their meds, to go to PT. Hurry up, I need to leave. I need my meds now, don't you know I am hurting. What kind of nurse are you? Are you an RN? My daughter said I needed an RN taking care of me. Glad I just do homecare now.

[IndiKast]

It's the silly psych wards I hate! I swear they say and do things while A&O X3 that they know they can get away with simply because they have a history of bad days now and then! And they do get away with it. The physical part is the worst!

[misschiatia]

Have worked for years with cute little old confused alzheimers/dementia patients. Have been kicked, slapped, called everything but a child of god, feces thrown at me, spit on, etc. Have found that as the years pass, i've gotten better at seeing it coming, so fewer incident's as time passes. Worst on the job assault was not really assault. Brain injured individual on locked unit wanted to leave, kept trying the door.I Was doing a pretty good job gently leading him away from the doors when the ativan I had given him kicked in, he became unsteady as we walked away from the doors and he began to fall. As i am trying to catch him, he is trying to catch himself using the keys i always wore around my neck. Then, of course the other staff sees him appearantly choking the hell out of me and jumped in. Alls well that ends well,no injury to myself or the patient. but i didn't wear keys around my neck anymore after that.

[bestallaround, ADN, CNA, LPN, RN]

I have experienced and witnessed many episodes of spitting, scratching, hitting, pushing, kicking, and boob and butt grabbing from elderly dementia/Alzheimers patients. I have seen cases with some patients who are very strong, who are capable of seriously hurting someone, where physicians refuse to properly medicate them. I'm talking about not even ordering something PRN. I have seen a patient like that who did not get any medicine until he actually assaulted the physician, then of course he got ativan and haldol on the spot! There have also been patients who really needed something for anxiety or PTSD, but other nurses have failed to document consistent bad behavior. I have had a nurse tell me, "oh, yeah, he fights everyday, but I'm not gonna sit there and document it eveytime."

I work in a VA Hospital and have seen the worst cases of patients who are A&OX3 abusing and threatening nurses, doctors, other patients, etc. We have mostly foreign doctors and, oh, I have heard some racial slurs that make my ears burn!Many of the patients are mad at the government and see staff as "one of them", not realizing that most of the staff are also veterans. And, physicians and hopital administration not wanting to do anything about it because the patients are veterans.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I really can't think of any physical assaults while I've been a nurse but I can say I've been sexually accosted by a boss when I was a secretary.

Verbal stuff - yeah. One demented lady, while being held down to give Haldol told me to get my face away from her as I had bad breath! I most likely did! Coffee-breath!

As so co-workers - I've been where SmilingBlueEyes has been . . . recently.

When working L&D you get yelled at and sometimes shoved and kicked by women but . . . . .I kinda have to give them a break. Labor hurts.

In the ER I think you are more likely to have this happen - even though our ER is rural, there are still the same kinds of patients - just spread out more. I really can't think of a physical example of abuse. So, I can't vote as there is no differentiation between verbal and physical abuse.

steph

[grandmawrinkle]

I forget where I saw this (it was a large national study), but the large majority of abuse in hospitals happens in ERs, psych, and with delirious/demented patients. This makes sense, if you think about it. I don't see it so much as violence as an occupational hazard. With certain patient populations, you have to expect that there is a chance that you might be physically assaulted.

My hospital has great security and has a mandatory 8 hour class for all direct care staff that teaches you how to diffuse high stress situations and how to protect yourself in the event that you are attacked (actual deflection techniques, takedown techniques, etc.) I think all hospitals should employ these kinds of programs.

In my mind, if your patient is whacked out to the point where you wouldn't be able to press charges because they weren't in their right mind, it's not violence, persay. It's part of the job.

[sunnycalifRN]

O-M-G.

So what can nurses do in this situation? Are you allowed to defend yourself? I would really hate someone spitting on me.

You can put a mask on the patient so that the spit is blocked. Also, you put on a gown and face shield in case he's a "power spitter"!!

[sunnycalifRN]

I've been kicked, spat on, hit, grabbed, called all kinds of bad names . . . comes with the job! As an earlier poster said, if the patient is delirious or a psych patient, doesn't bother me a bit. However, when the patient is totally alert and oriented and does any of those things, they get a warning about the unacceptable behavior . . . if the behavior continues, time to inform the charge nurse, document, get witnesses and call security (for physical assault).

[7student7]

I have been been clawed at, swung at, choked, spit at, pinched, chased down the hallway, had various body parts touched or commented on, cussed at, told to "smile" in a condescending manner, etc. I do work in psych, but I think that many have a lack of social skills on top of their actual illness, and that a little lesson in social graces can't hurt. I usually make it a point to say "No, that's completely inappropriate" and explain why whatever they did was counterproductive to anyone liking them or getting their privileges back anytime soon. A few of the times I've seen a patient get really angry at me was when I did something obviously to protect myself, like make smoke break 10 minutes late for a trouble-making patient in order to wait for a male to go with me. When they yell at me for things like that I tell them that their behavior has given me no reason to trust them and it's their job to change that, not mine. Some think I'm a witch, but then again I've never been seriously injured (many of my coworkers have) and I plan on keeping it that way. Some of the patients even like me better for holding them accountable instead of treating them like a child.

I would never try to press charges on a someone who truly was delusional or hallucinating, but I would on most others if it were serious enough. And, no matter what the diagnosis, I have no issues with running the heck out of that room and getting some help.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i have been been clawed at, swung at, choked, spit at, pinched, chased down the hallway, had various body parts touched or commented on, cussed at, told to "smile" in a condescending manner, etc. i do work in psych, but i think that many have a lack of social skills on top of their actual illness, and that a little lesson in social graces can't hurt. i usually make it a point to say "no, that's completely inappropriate" and explain why whatever they did was counterproductive to anyone liking them or getting their privileges back anytime soon. a few of the times i've seen a patient get really angry at me was when i did something obviously to protect myself, like make smoke break 10 minutes late for a trouble-making patient in order to wait for a male to go with me. when they yell at me for things like that i tell them that their behavior has given me no reason to trust them and it's their job to change that, not mine. some think i'm a witch, but then again i've never been seriously injured (many of my coworkers have) and i plan on keeping it that way. some of the patients even like me better for holding them accountable instead of treating them like a child.

i would never try to press charges on a someone who truly was delusional or hallucinating, but i would on most others if it were serious enough. and, no matter what the diagnosis, i have no issues with running the heck out of that room and getting some help.

thank god there are people like you who choose to work in psych, because i could never do it. that said, i think sometimes we get more "crazies" in the icu than you do on the psych unit. mental illness exists in all strata of society, but at least in the psych ward you're forewarned and forearmed. we're often shocked to realize that the visitor who seemed so concerned about his mother is really a raging lunatic, and most of us don't have the skills to deal with crazy if we can't tie 'em down and drug 'em. i'm sure that correctional nurses have to deal with a large population of mentally ill inmates, but there again, i'm thinking (or hoping, i guess) that they have better skills with that than your average icu nurse who can recognize heart failure in an instant, see sepsis coming a mile away and talk about opening someone's chest while we calmly eat our pizza but wouldn't see schizophrenia or bipolar disorder coming until we'd already been assaulted and battered and heard about it after the fact.