Nurse dies after assault at job. She finished her shift first.

[missmollie]

Something has got to give. A nurse in Louisiana was attacked at work, finished her shift, went to the ER the next night. Sent home. Dead a few days later from a blood clot. Patient abuse of nurses is not a right. Here's just another story of a nurse being attacked.

http://www.ksla.com/2019/04/15/baton-rouge-nurse-dies-days-after-attack-by-patient/?fbclid=IwAR2JHJJYDVnAyYxlxuK3RKtUmtw1CoJUc9M-gToOBxA7qidFYBak5wXExGY

[ConnecticutMassRN]

Heartbroken for this nurse and her family.

[balletomane, ADN, RN]

It is most certainly not rare for this to occur. As an RN in a neuro unit, I can tell you that DVTs and PEs can occur with minor leg injuries. This nurse had a traumatic leg injury. Also, this is not an uncommon event to occur in a psych ward nor on a unit with pts withdrawing from alcohol or drugs. Can also occur with dementia or encephalopathy pts. Nurses are told to defend but not hit back.

[RainMom]

7 hours ago, PN2RN2019 said:

There should be signs all over hospital stating violence will be not tolerated. The hospital I work at, we have signs all over ED that read “violence against staff will not be tolerated” in bold letters!!! Patients aren’t always right!!!

We just received an email at work this week that we would have new signs going up to this effect including the fact that it is a felony in our state. Also recently had an email regarding additional security that has been contracted. I don't know if we had some kind of event at my facility or maybe these changes were in response to different stories like the one above, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it.

[Redhead,RN, BSN]

Never once did I get attacked while working at an inner city urban hospital. I was attacked as a school nurse by a large 6th grade special needs child. Her para failed to control her and she punched me. Then as I raised my arms to protect my face, she bit my arm. I also finished my shift then called the principal and quit. No two week notice from me. They didn't protect me from a known extremely aggressive child. They didn't deserve that courtesy.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

6 minutes ago, Redhead,RN said:

Never once did I get attacked while working at an inner city urban hospital. I was attacked as a school nurse by a large 6th grade special needs child. Her para failed to control her and she punched me. Then as I raised my arms to protect my face, she bit my arm. I also finished my shift then called the principal and quit. No two week notice from me. They didn't protect me from a known extremely aggressive child. They didn't deserve that courtesy.

Nurses should be paid extra (combat pay), because everyday we are on the front lines and at war with patients that have unstable minds. Management wants us to treat these people with white gloves and a smile. There should have been a security guard standing with you, when you dealt with her like it is when a nurse works in a jail.

[freesia29, ASN, RN]

This really makes me second guess if doing the LPN to RN is the right thing.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

6 hours ago, balletomane said:

It is most certainly not rare for this to occur. As an RN in a neuro unit, I can tell you that DVTs and PEs can occur with minor leg injuries. This nurse had a traumatic leg injury. Also, this is not an uncommon event to occur in a psych ward nor on a unit with pts withdrawing from alcohol or drugs. Can also occur with dementia or encephalopathy pts. Nurses are told to defend but not hit back.

I took care of a patient whose leg got injured by her horse and she developed a DVT.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

3 hours ago, Workitinurfava said:

Nurses should be paid extra (combat pay), because everyday we are on the front lines and at war with patients that have unstable minds. Management wants us to treat these people with white gloves and a smile. There should have been a security guard standing with you, when you dealt with her like it is when a nurse works in a jail.

All the altered mental status patients and the alarms are what get on my nerves. As to violent patients usually, they are angry men in my experience. While I've never been injured my coworkers have been punched in the face, kicked in the face, chased with a cane. I've had angry men raise their fist at me threatening me on a couple of occasions. One with known psyche issues and the other a 400-pound guy who we heard was physically abusive to his wife. One time a patient tried to slam the closet door on my coworker when she was reaching for something in his closet he wanted. Luckily by a miracle she moved in the nic of time and wasn't hit.

Occasionally women might get angry and yell, but not hit, except for the rare dementia patient who is usually too frail to do any real damage.

We have security, but some have a tendency to rile the patient more. One that physically restrained a person got fired, but I think they should be able to do that if necessary to protect us!

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

The employer is totally unsupportive when it comes to this type of abuse.They put all the blame on the nurse,add insult to injury when they ask the nurse what did you do/say?Then they do not want you to call the police,but in some cases we have,especially when we had a supportive security guard who placed the call to the police .The police said "no one should have to put up with that while they are working"

The only thing I doubt about the article is that the co workers tried to help....sorry but I do not believe they really did much.He was attacking ,so pick up a chair and slam him hard....Makes me furious just to think about the rampant abuse.

[Nunya, BSN]

On 4/17/2019 at 2:18 PM, NurseBlaq said:

Same. I was taught patients are always right. BS! I refuse to be a punching bag for patients. Administration has become so obtuse to nurse abuse that the families have taken up abusing nurses. They're even allowed to call codes and rapid responses which they also abuse just because mom didn't get the pain med that YOU wanted her to have and she's in pain, forget that she's sound asleep. It's a hot mess!

Families are allowed to call codes and rapid responses?!?

[Wheels28]

Just a patient---My heart goes out to this nurse and her family. It boggles my mind why others think its ok to assault a healthcare worker, being disabled and in a wheelchair, I have been in the hospital many times and the ER a few times and never even thought about assaulting a healthcare worker.

I wouldn’t like it if my nurse hit me because they were having a bad day, so why would I hit them because I’m sick or hurt. Many people don’t realize they will have a harder time getting care (because who wants to care for someone who might assault them) and may also delay other patients care if more staff is needed to prevent another staff member from getting hurt. I have always been respectful and polite towards staff and I have never had any shortage of help when I needed it. It’s a shame, it’s hard for many people to show respect to others when it’s so easy to do and doesn’t cost anything.

Always remember you have patients who respect and appreciate the work you do!

Stay Strong Nurses!

[balletomane, ADN, RN]

On ‎4‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 4:09 PM, Workitinurfava said:

I am more shocked over the fact that this person didn't seek help for the injuries. I would have asked for a full body scan. Maybe they could have found the PE. Management knows we are the most attacked -patient to staff. There should be a male security guard on every unit, he should be 250 pounds and 6 foot. The same psych patients are floating all through out the system. Even in some of the psych facilities there is short staffing and not enough security. Trust me, being a psych nurse, I have seen it with my own eyes.

She did seek help and she may have asked. Just asking doesn't mean you get one. And, PEs don't immediately show up following injury.