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.

[wondern, ASN]

Hmmm, it sounds like the administrator thinks the very expensive BP machine is harder to replace than your friend?!:monkeydance:

(I'm feeling so fallish this am.):hrnsmlys:

This is one reason why we must protect our profession from these non-caring, sometimes 'never stepped a foot in to patient care', bully-enabling managers/administrators!:gtch:

They just aren't always able to fully appreciate our education, experience, nursing knowledge nor our intellectual, proactive, problem preventing, multi-talented skillz! :loveya::dancgrp:

[meintheUSA]

While trying to clean an incont pt of bm, he tryed to fling some at me. I picked up the warm, clean soapy water in the basin, and poured it over his bare chest. Oh the look on his face. Whoops... He NEVER was cruel or resisted getting cleaned up again.

[meintheUSA]

While trying to clean an incont pt of bm, he tryed to fling some at me. I picked up the warm, clean soapy water in the basin, and poured it over his bare chest. Oh the look on his face. Whoops... He NEVER was cruel or resisted getting cleaned up again.

Same gentlemen had broken an aid's arm, scratched and bitten before.. Never to me..

[rotteluvr31, ADN, RN]

Scratched, arm twisted, verbal threats and abuse... yeah yeah yeah - all of that and more.

The incidents that stick out? Realizing that a pt who had been saying inappropriate things to me had watched me walk to my car, and had someone place a letter and flowers on my windshield. The RN's I was working with at the time had changed my assignment so I never had to work with him after the first shift, but he still watched me all week long. He was d/c'd the day after the flowers, but I got security to walk me out at night after that. It was spooky and many years ago, but still makes my skin crawl thinking he knew my car, my name and license plate number.

When I was pregnant I had a MR/DD bipolar pt in a group home take a swing at me with an electric broom. Good thing I saw it coming in time to duck or he would have clocked me a good one.

Just the other night I had a pt who was confused and disoriented after a recent overdose/suicide attempt, she thought we were whores working in a whore house and trying to get her to come and work with us. Let's just say she was less then cooperative with assessments. And she had a cast on her arm, that thing was a lethal weapon. We do have the recourse, and have used it, of calling in the sheriff's dept when a pt in our ICU is on a police hold. Sometimes that helps until the meds kick in.

[natalia13]

"spit on, pushed, scratched and verbally assaulted"

Over the course of my 20 years all of the above plus, punched in the sternum so hard it knocked the wind out of me because I thought the up ad lib, (previous to admission living on his own) man could finish his own face shave.

Kicked in the face when I approached a pt lying in bed, bit (with and without dentures in), grabbed by the arm and dragged down the hallway and into a stairwell (while 8 months pregnant), ninja attacked by an old fart with his walking cane swinging it around like a battle sword, NG tube whipped, hair pulled, slapped, pinched - oh the pinching from little old ladies and their nasty fingernails, threatened by pt's and their charming intelligent families, on and on and on.

Many oriented x1 or x2 but most of them x3

I couldn't handle ward nursing one more day - so I got out 6 years ago and haven't looked back.

wow! you've gone through a lot wiht your pts. what scared me is that you were nine months pregnant and had a pt drag you!!! Holy! hope you were okay... i just graduated from Nursing.. so it good to read past experiences so that theres no surprises.. did you ever in reaction or self defense like * hit* a pt, or push, etc..

[GQGomer]

Um, maybe a good employment (and civil and criminal) attorney is in order (lots of free or cheap initial attorney consults available if you decide to go that route). You might want to document it in case you decide to go after the patient and/or employer in court. Also, you could end up with some substantial medical bills or insurance rate hikes if you need medical attention because of it (or maybe Workman's Comp). Lastly, seems your employer is negligent (at best) in allowing this to happen. BTW, where is OSHA? Wonder what the police and a judge would think of assualt and battery too? Hmmmmmmmmmmm Would guess your employer will be too scared to do anything to you re your job if you document (would guess that would be a fat law suit against the employer too, BTW), but an attorney would be the one to really ask.

[momtojosh]

i work with the mentally handicapped.tho the house i work at is medical(trachs,g-tubes,all wheel chair bound)..we have one man who eats by mout,h can read....4th grade level.....anyway..this man should not be at our house..he is PSYCHO!...really bi-polar...he calls us F *** b***,F*** A***holes........i am gonna F your mother up the **** then kill her...he spits he head bunts....hits. throws things....one day he was going off and i was wheeling him backwards to his room all the while his head was going and another was trying to hold his arms down on his chair.....you never know what kind of mood he is going to be in from one min to the next....the higher uppers have placed him in our very medically frail home and there is NOTHING we can do about it.....several people have bid out to other IRA houses,me one of them.....started at my new house a few weeks ago......

he has put staff out on OI..(occupational injury)...another out on AL..admin leave....cause he will turn people in for hittin him,which noone does..but they have to follow up on the complaint....it is all BS!!!...glad i am outta there.....i feel sorry for the residents tho....they do not communicate as they are really profoundly MR and frail at that....this is the last house the go to before they pass.....just what they need in their lives at this point....a crazy maniac disrupting their usual peaceful lives and care....

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

Well, this week I was flipped off by a pt. who was bleeding out from stab wounds.

You'd think he might have been nicer to the nurse trying to save his life.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

well, this week i was flipped off by a pt. who was bleeding out from stab wounds.

you'd think he might have been nicer to the nurse trying to save his life.

there was probably a reason someone stabbed him in the first place!

[star77, MSN, RN]

Yep. Welcome to the ER. Recently dodged a full-force punch seriously Matrix-style.

Happens daily where I work.

[Fiona59]

there was probably a reason someone stabbed him in the first place!

reminds me of a patient last month. by the end of the shift (only two on nights), we were both ready to assault him (barfight sent him to hospital). we could so relate to why he was in hospital.

[natalia13]

question:

what happens when a pt tries to punch you!?! i understand security gets called and all but like are you allowed out of self defense/ Reaction to like *hit/push* back?? and what would happen if you do so? I recently graduated from Nursing, and would like to have more knowledge within this topic.. I see myself working in the ER and these are the places i hear this abuse mostly occurs in..

Thanks a lot!!!