Pt hits/kicks you

[Laur927]

If a patient hits/kicks you what do you do? Charge nurse is aware of combative attitude but how do I cover my back

[MunoRN, RN]

There are a wide range of responses to being hit or kicked by a patient; are they oriented? Where they aware of what they were doing? Is it related to a medical or psych condition or are they just abusive?

[Laur927]

They're aware. Mittens on. Med/Surg

[MunoRN, RN]

The patient is in no way delirious? No encephalopathy? No sort of altered state?

[Laur927]

No., he's with it. Old and grumpy and very combative

[amoLucia]

#1 - Fill out an incident report each time, even if you're told otherwise.

#2 - Always document pt aggressiveness/behaviors in your charting.

#3 - any pain?

My guess is you're a newbie but not all geriatric pts are grumpy and combative (OLD, yes). There must be some reasonthat he's in the hospital. Sickness contributes to otherwise different behaviors.

Is he septic, have a UTI, Alzheimer's??? None of these are his fault. And BTW, hand mitts can be considered a form of restraint and I would be quite p***** if you mitted my hands.

Lot of care concerns here.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Just taking the elderly out of their familiar environment and then changing a few of their medications especially pain medications and sedatives can cause periods of confusion,agitation and a host of other atypical behaviors. Determine the cause and work from that point!