DoccallInc

As someone with experience in healthcare management (and pursuing organizational leadership with my MBA), I think one thing missing from this thread is cause for workplace violence in healthcare/nursing. Personally, I believe this is derived from administration and leadership. Even when employees are hurt by patients who do not have the cognitive ability to understand their actions, it is still considered assault. I think this is a common misconception within the industry. One thing you should know is that reporting abusive behavior generally does not legally impact on these types of patients if they have a medical diagnosis protecting them. Like reporting medical errors, there is a stigma and fear of repercussion from leadership when reporting happens. Not to mention, can we just address the topic of under staffing as a safety issue? There are so many contributions to the issue of safety (or lack of) in the medical field and whether or not you all have 6+ patients, you must take the time to document. If patient satisfaction goes down, make sure you chart that you had to document a safety issue and did not have time to finish x,y, & z. Documentation is everything. OSHA has guidelines that every institution must follow and it is amazing how many healthcare facilities do not. Not only that, but it will save you legally. If God forbid you ever become seriously injured (or discriminated against, or any of the other horrible things I've read on this forum), you will have that report to help you form a case. Honestly, the more money our healthcare facilities must spend on these issues, the more they will pay attention. Maybe it is time to bring attention to them legally. If you have something you're not sure about but just want to talk about, I work with an advocacy group. We have established professionals who are able to listen to you and put you in touch with the right people whether that may be a physician, a lawyer or some other experienced provider. As I said we are an outreach group looking to help people so all of our assistance is free. We are based in Philadelphia but work globally. If you'd like to hear more or have us reach out to you, please shoot me an email. I'd be happy to touch base. [email protected] You are all right. You should not have to tolerate this type of violence any longer.

I can speak from experience- patients have a right to switch inpatient physicians every time they are in the hospital. If the hospital denies you this right, you should see a lawyer.