If there were such a class as a "Nurse Self-Defense" class, would you take it?
A "Nurse Self-Defense" class teaches a nurse how to deal with physically violent patients basically. But it does have other characteristics like it will teach how to do minimum damage (preferably no damage) to the patient in the process of defending one self. The techniqes being taught are independent of the size of the person, so basically a 4 foot 10 nurse can bring down a 6 ft 10 person with minimum damage to both the patient and the nurse.
Probably it will involve lots of holds, locks, and maybe some thorwing techniques from different martial arts. Oh yes, lots of training on how to get out of the way when you see a punch or whatever comming. Maybe even learn how to use some unobstrusive weapon like kubotan (a little 6 inch or so stick you can carry on your keychain).
Basically it has to be something very practical that one can learn to use in a hurry. The class has to be design with the nurses in mind just like classes design specifically design for police officers in term of use of force.
(how many of them are just going to cooperate?), :rotfl:
I don't know why this hit my funnybone so hard, but you gave me a GREAT laugh this morning!! The mental images of cooperative attackers -- HOOOO BOY!!
I believe this is a VERY good subject to explore and Dan and I have been exchanging thought on it for days -- so I hope no one is offended by my urge to guffaw -- just couldn't help myself -- am actually still chuckling -- what a twisted woman I am!!
(how many of them are just going to cooperate?), :rotfl:
I don't know why this hit my funnybone so hard, but you gave me a GREAT laugh this morning!! The mental images of cooperative attackers -- HOOOO BOY!!
I hope you did not get into trouble by laughing too loud at work:rotfl:
Actually on a more seriouis note, that is another potential problem in a number of the martial arts (not all). In Aikido at least, the attacker actually has to cooperate because if s/he does not, the technique is hard to learn and worst, it is not safe because the attacker can get hurt real bad (especially under the hands of someone who is not experience and is trying to learn the technique).
I've been looking at Hapkido web sites and stuff. I find it very interesting. There is one thing I forgot to mentioned however, that is we need to make a distinction between tournament type of martial art and self-defense type of martial arts. Tournament types of martial art have lots of rules, for example, you are not going to see someone tackle another person in a karate tournament or someone kick or punch one's opponent in a wrestling tournament.
It seemed that Hapkido is more on the self-defense side and it is for everyone (young/old, male/female, ...) and more at the "street level". That is just an impression I have so far which could be wrong.
I also notice Hapkido techniques are taught to police officers in some cases and even airline pilots and flight attendants. Both of these cases, it seemed they modify the techniques to be fit the criteria of the profession. So I can see potential some Hapkido instructor is willing to do the same for the nursing profession, make a special version for the nursing profession (don't want to learn all the techniques which number in the thousands).
You know, I think I try to visit some local Hapkido studio and check them out.
About cooperation, that reminded me about two incidents. One incidents was in Aikido where I remembered one of the instructor not "cooperate" to teach people how to change techniques on the fly.
Another incident was in a civilian police academy where the officer was demonstrating some locks to one of our classmate. She was fully "cooperating" all right and it turned out she was double jointed. She just looked at the officer as if saying "what are you doing?" The officer was good because he immediately went "are you double jointed?" She smiled and he changed the technique on the fly. Interesting...
I'm really interested in the legal aspects of this. A couple of weeks ago I was wondering "How much force is too much force on a rowdy patient or their family members?". "Can I get sued for utilizing a martial arts move as an RN or Student Nurse?" (Maybe I can and should wait for them to throw the first punch.)
It's true that martial artists are taught to walk away. Their prayer would go something like this:
Grant me the courage:
To walk away, before I defend myself.
To defend myself, before I maim (the attacker).
To maim, before I get killed.
To kill, before I get killed.
Don't get me wrong, we are also taught to fight for what is right. If I see a co-worker or co-student getting assaulted, I will step in.
Martial artists are also taught not to teach anyone outside the studio the techniques of the martial arts. Not because we want to keep it to ourselves, but because they believe that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Advanced/higher moves are built from the basics and the previous moves like a stepladder, thus, the belt system. (White to yellow to Orange to Green and so on and so forth). One can injure themselves and others if not properly trained.
Hapkido is the Korean art of self defense utilizing locks, etc.
I for one believe that there is not a single martial arts that is an answer for everything. Judo, for example, is great in closed quarter combat whereas Tae Kwon Do (with it's gravity defying kicks) would be ineffective.
I'm really interested in the legal aspects of this. A couple of weeks ago I was wondering "How much force is too much force on a rowdy patient or their family members?". "Can I get sued for utilizing a martial arts move as an RN or Student Nurse?" (Maybe I can and should wait for them to throw the first punch.)
We need a Nurse Attorney here on this. Any Nurse Attorney out here? I do know that in the police department, they have some kind of force escalation they follow - basically they try to use the minimum force required to get the job done (preferably no force). They can get charge for "excessive force" and I am sure nurses can get charged for it too.
So any kind of Nurskido class will have to include the legal aspect.
Martial artists are also taught not to teach anyone outside the studio the techniques of the martial arts. Not because we want to keep it to ourselves, but because they believe that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Same thing would apply to Nurskido. Nurskido would have some kind of philosophy of self-defense, philosophy of the worth of the patient who is doing damage, philosophy of force, ... whole bunch of other things. It is the philosophy that will dictate when to use the physical part of Nurskido or not. Come to think of it, the de-escalation part mentioned in earlier post should also be part of Nurskido.
I for one believe that there is not a single martial arts that is an answer for everything. Judo, for example, is great in closed quarter combat whereas Tae Kwon Do (with it's gravity defying kicks) would be ineffective.
Nurskido would probably be eclectic. I am pretty sure Nurskido would not include any high kicks as that is not very useful in a close quarter struggle situation.
More thoughts, Nurskido should address the different environment where a nurse could get into trouble. Some of them I can think of top of my head are
In a psychiatric emergency situation where a patient is in full blown psychosis and is violent at the same time.
In a hospital room where a patient for whatever reason become physically agressive and ended using a syringe as a weapone (or whatever s/he can get his/her hands on)
Home health nurses who visit homes and had to go to a real bad neighborhood at night.
Correction Nurses environment?
You know, I can just see in the future where Nurskido becomes an Olympic sport :rotfl: Let's see, you have a hospital room instead of a boxing ring or whatever. Then you have some huge football player to play a real upset patient and the nurse is graded on how s/he handle the situation. Guess we'll have like judges or something like ice skating. Graded on style, on speed in execution of techniques, speed in getting out of the room, ... etc.
Excuse me... I think it must be Friday or something....
One word of caution - the principles behind the movements are sound, but unless they are performed perfectly and the attacker does not have a clue what you are doing, they are ineffective. If the attacker knows what is coming and resists or counters the movement (how many of them are just going to cooperate?), you could make things worse for yourself.
Every move in Hapkido has a counter and if you know what you are doing, it doesn't matter if an opponent resists or not...except it hurts them even more :chuckle
It seemed that Hapkido is more on the self-defense side and it is for everyone (young/old, male/female, ...) and more at the "street level". That is just an impression I have so far which could be wrong.
You know, I think I try to visit some local Hapkido studio and check them out.
-Dan
Hapkido is strictly self defense oriented and not a sport. My website is not up at the moment as I'm looking for a space in my new location. My teacher has a website with schools in his organization at http://www.Hapkido.com You can see if there is one near you. You have to be careful however, as there are a lot of "McDojos" out there. Many schools, particularly Tae Kwon Do schools will add a little Hapkido and call themselves Hapkido schools. A Korean school is a dojang by the way. Another thing about self defense. You may train a short while and be lucky to remember a technique and escape. However, it really helps to make training a part of your life. Some black belts who have never been in a "real" confrontation have had an adrenaline dump and not be able to do anything. I've reduced a few to quivering, unable-to-do anything people just to give them a taste of what it can be like in the real world. Hapkido is good because it has kicks, punches, throws, joint locks, pressure point attacks, ground work, biting, scratching, brick to the head...anything that works.
We've all had the body mechanics and correct lifting classes, but there is no way to lift correctly when you are short staffed, and don't have proper equipment. So, this renders the body mechanics classes pretty much useless. Any realistic nurses' self defense classes would have to take short staffing, poor equipment and so on into consideration to really be effective.
We've all had the body mechanics and correct lifting classes, but there is no way to lift correctly when you are short staffed, and don't have proper equipment. So, this renders the body mechanics classes pretty much useless. Any realistic nurses' self defense classes would have to take short staffing, poor equipment and so on into consideration to really be effective.
One of the great things about de-escalating is that it doesn't take many people--usually. If the subject (?) is alert and oriented, a show of strength might slow them down, but for a confused patient it's sometimes best not to have too many people involved.
I've been advocating for more training on this for as long as I have worked in healthcare, but I could see it easily doing more harm than good if the psychological side is not adequately addressed. Psychology of the caregiver, I mean. You'd have to have a lot of control over your instincts and keep your adrenaline in check. And it could be dangerous to the defender if he or she were overconfident.
I have joked that the most useful thing I learned in high school was wrestling, but there's a lot of truth in it, too.
One of the great things about de-escalating is that it doesn't take many people--usually. If the subject (?) is alert and oriented, a show of strength might slow them down, but for a confused patient it's sometimes best not to have too many people involved.
This is where experience comes in, I guess. There are times when too many people are not good, it actually will escalate things. Then there are times when such a few extra people will de-escalate the whole situation.
I've been advocating for more training on this for as long as I have worked in healthcare, but I could see it easily doing more harm than good if the psychological side is not adequately addressed. Psychology of the caregiver, I mean. You'd have to have a lot of control over your instincts and keep your adrenaline in check. And it could be dangerous to the defender if he or she were overconfident.
I think what we want is confidence, not under/over-confident which is no good. Or maybe realistic confidence. Overconfidence can get a person in a riskier situation than is necessary. Underconfidence is not good either as the person feel helpless and unsafe in a working enviroment. Techniques usually should not be taught alone, there is always the psychology side as you mentioned. Guess one of the goal of "Nurskido" is to provide a safe enviornment for both the caregiver and and one who is being care for. With that goal in mind, lots of the martial art techniques actually will not be appliable except in extreme circumstances.
I have joked that the most useful thing I learned in high school was wrestling, but there's a lot of truth in it, too.
A few of my friends and I were in wrestling during Jr high school. We lost every single match. I do have the distingtion of losing every match but was never pinned (I always somehow managed to crawl out of bounds).
danu3
621 Posts
Looks like Hapkido has different styles. It looks like a Korean form of Aikido with strikes? Or rather historically, think Hapkido came first?
Any tips on what to look for in Hapkido in terms of schools, teachers, styles...?
-Dan