Hello everybody, this is my first time posting!
I’m in need of some venting and some helpful advice on something that happened recently.
So the other day I was taking care of a patient with advanced dementia. I had gotten in report that he had at one time thrown a chair aggressively. But to my knowledge they had started him on some psych meds and he hadn’t shown any tendencies since he had been admitted. Well let’s jump to yesterday. He was being a model patient, he let me do his assessment, meds, etc. The day was going fine. That was up until I was doing his wound dressing.
So this dressing was on his chest and as I was changing it, the next thing I know he grabs the back of my head and at the same time pulls out his penis and attempts to push my head towards his penis. I thankfully was able to pull away and reprimanded him. At the time i was in shock and the rest of the day just tried to laugh it off. My manager was notified, security, etc. I was even asked if I wanted to press charges.
So now we get to today. With this just happening yesterday, I tried to brush it off. But as I was getting ready for work I was feeling extremely anxious. I continued to get ready for work because I didn’t have any days to call in. So I get to work, and they assign me the same patient! I tried to be calm and I let them know I would not be able to take the patient again. But after some others asking what happened and it not being switched with ease, the next thing I know I am in tears and having a panic attack running off the unit. Well needless to say I was sent home.
So yep that’s pretty much where I’m at. I have to go to work on Monday and just don’t know if I can do it. I feel like this shouldn’t be a big deal and I don’t want to be missing work but irregardless of how I WANT to feel, I am having a very hard time with it. I feel anxious to go back and be up close to a patient. But then again I feel like nothing really happened so I don’t have the right to be upset or even miss any work. I’ve dealt with patients being verbally abusive/harrassing, and even a patient grabbing me by the waist before trying to grind on me, but this last time has gotten me overall very scared. I’ve only been a nurse for a year and a half and I really don’t know how to deal or handle this.
So overall I feel so mixed and would love to hear any similar stories or comments. Thanks!
