Nurse Practitioner Safer than bedside nursing?

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Specializes in Public Health Science.

I would like to know if its realistic to assume that nurse practitioners will avoid some of the downsides to being a bedside nurse which is that patients attack nurses. I understand this occurs sometimes and I assume that it happens less to nurse practitioners but I cannot be sure.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice Critical Care and Family Nursing.

Difference is when patients assault nurses at least now there is some litigation in place to protect the nurse, often allowing charges to be filed against the patient.

But when nurse practitioners are attacked (especially by fellow nurses, cough, cough) or patients even, a complaint is usually filed to your not so friendly BON during the process, who will consider you guilty until proven innocent beyond an exponential-irrational-irreasonable doubt, and only seek to make an example out of you. They do so to show the public (like your assailant) how hard they work to protect the good citizens of the state like them.

So, as a bedside nurse, you may actually profit from being attacked. Paid time off, rehab, lose some weight, get a new wardrobe, heck maybe even some free Botox if injuries are facial, all at the expense of your employer per se. As an APRN, it's going to cost you. Your malpractice will go up (because hopefully you're smart enough to have some) attorney fees, stress eating, lost nights of sleep, et cetera. And trust me you would rather take a pro bono assignment in a wilderness Wuhan nursing home before going before the BON for anything short of misspelling Florence Nightingale.

Point; there is a lot of satire in what I'm saying. Truth is an RN should never go into advanced practice thinking anything about nursing is easier or avoided. Everything is harder, more serious, with bigger consequences. And it should be.

"anyone with the right why can face just about every how.." -FN-

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Specializes in Public Health Science.

So what your saying is that being an NP isn't going to lead to less patient attacks, only going to leads to the NP having to face greater responsibility for said attack? Seems unfair for not an RN or an NP.

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23 hours ago, mja79 said:

And trust me you would rather take a pro bono assignment in a wilderness Wuhan nursing home before going before the BON for anything short of misspelling Florence Nightingale.

Point; there is a lot of satire in what I'm saying. Truth is an RN should never go into advanced practice thinking anything about nursing is easier or avoided. Everything is harder, more serious, with bigger consequences. And it should be.

This took me out. ?

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Specializes in ED, Family Practice, Home Health.

I've found being an NP to be much safer than being an RN. But then I was an ER RN and moved into family practice as an NP. Easier, safer, more respect and more money. No one has ever tried to throw a punch at me or throw urine on me in the clinic. That was a weekly occurrence in the ED.

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Specializes in Public Health Science.

I am sorry patients were allowed to do these things. I really feel laws need to prioritize the safety of nurses. I am sure that patients would be less violent if they were clearly aware that charges would automatically be pressed if they assaulted nurses. I am not sure why patients are allowed to treat ER nurses this way. Even though nurses are there to help patients, it really shouldn't mean that they should act as a punching bag. Policies like bolting down furniture has had some success but more really needs to be done. Reading about how little protection nurses have is one of the reasons I was scared away from nursing for a very long time. My dad was a CNA and he would tell me about how poorly they were treated. As a man in his early 50s it was not so bad for him but for female CNAs it was terrible.

It makes me 100% hopeful that nurse practitioners have it a little better. I want to help patients but not if it means being punched and bit. That sounds like a nightmare, especially since I get PTSD sometimes from growing up in a very abusive family. Thanks for the info.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
On 4/29/2020 at 4:54 PM, Future MSN said:

I would like to know if its realistic to assume that nurse practitioners will avoid some of the downsides to being a bedside nurse which is that patients attack nurses. I understand this occurs sometimes and I assume that it happens less to nurse practitioners but I cannot be sure.

Can you clarify what you mean by attacks - in close to 20 years in healthcare (most of it in Psych with some extremely unstable and aggressive patients) I have found psychical attacks by patients on nurses to be a rare thing. There are anecdotal reports to be sure and I am not saying attacks don't happen but it's not so huge a thing that I would structure my career not to mention take on thousands of dollars in student debt to avoid it.

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Specializes in Public Health Science.

Being safe at work is important to me. It’s not a minor consideration and I am just wondering if it’s outburst of violence happen less frequently to NP.

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Specializes in Public Health Science.
On 4/30/2020 at 4:04 PM, Uroboros said:

Difference is when patients assault nurses at least now there is some litigation in place to protect the nurse, often allowing charges to be filed against the patient.

But when nurse practitioners are attackED (especially by fellow nurses, cough, cough) or patients even, a complaint is usually filed to your not so friendly BON during the process, who will consider you guilty until proven innocent beyond an exponential-irrational-irreasonable doubt, and only seek to make an example out of you. They do so to show the public (like your assailant) how hard they work to protect the good citizens of the state like them.

So, as a bedside nurse, you may actually profit from being attacked. Paid time off, rehab, lose some weight, get a new wardrobe, heck maybe even some free Botox if injuries are facial, all at the expense of your employer per se. As an APRN, it's going to cost you. Your malpractice will go up (because hopefully you're smart enough to have some) attorney fees, stress eating, lost nights of sleep, et cetera. And trust me you would rather take a pro bono assignment in a wilderness Wuhan nursing home before going before the BON for anything short of misspelling Florence Nightingale.

Point; there is a lot of satire in what I'm saying. Truth is an RN should never go into advanced practice thinking anything about nursing is easier or avoided. Everything is harder, more serious, with bigger consequences. And it should be.

"anyone with the right why can face just about every how.." -FN-

I want to take care of patients but I also want to take care of myself. I don't think its wrong to value both things. I am bit confused by the point you are trying to make. 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

I think it depends on the specialty you choose to utilize your NP in.

Little babies rarely attack people so being an NP with a neo-natal specialty should be pretty safe . The is most likely true of a family practice NP in a clinic setting. 

Once you get into the acute setting anything can happen and usually does. For all we talk about it attacks on nurses by patients is quite rare. In my own field Psych we see a fair amount of aggression and I've pulled more than one burly angry psychotic off naive   NPs, MDs, and therapists. Got hit a couple of times myself in the past 20 years. One resulted in a skull fracture that almost ended my nursing career but I returned to psych after a 5 year hiatus because I just couldn't get passionate about other areas of nursing. 

There's only one way I know to prevent getting hurt by an aggressive patient and that is to practice "Constant Situational Awareness" although I am female I have learned a lot form THEARTOFMANLEYNESS.COM.

hppy

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Specializes in Public Health Science.
On 5/28/2020 at 9:43 AM, hppygr8ful said:

Can you clarify what you mean by attacks - in close to 20 years in healthcare (most of it in Psych with some extremely unstable and aggressive patients) I have found psychical attacks by patients on nurses to be a rare thing. There are anecdotal reports to be sure and I am not saying attacks don't happen but it's not so huge a thing that I would structure my career not to mention take on thousands of dollars in student debt to avoid it.

By attacks I mean injuries like being "punched, slapped, knocked down." I am considering many things in my decision. The risk of the profession is just one of them. 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
18 hours ago, Future MSN said:

By attacks I mean injuries like being "punched, slapped, knocked down." I am considering many things in my decision. The risk of the profession is just one of them. 

Well no  as a general rule we don't get punched slapped or knocked down on  a regular basis. I have a great team and we work proactively to intervene before violence occurs.

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