My unit is a open unit with 10 hospital beds in the ER separated only by curtains (think an old fashioned hospital ward) and is staffed by two nurses and a paramedic. We provide patient care to admitted patients while they wait for an inpatient bed to become available. We are a Level 1 trauma center and have about 120,000 ER visits a year even though the physical space was meant to accommodate about 45,000 ER visits a year. There are plans for expansion but for the meantime there is major overcrowding. The hospital has been so busy lately that some patients have to wait days instead of hours to get a room depending on the floor they are assigned. Our unit is small, only has one communal bathroom, and has no television for the patients. Simply put, it is a chaotic, stressful environment.
One night, the two nurses on duty, were both stressed from the work environment and started getting more and more irritated with each other. It escalated to the point that one nurse was yelling insults at the other nurse in front of all the patients and family members. Then that same nurse threatened the other nurse saying , "I'm going to smash your face in" in front of all the patients and family members. After a few more words were exchanged with each other the nurse making the threat called the assistant nurse manager (who was charge nurse that night) and told the manager "You better get over here before I knock the other nurse out." Even in front of the nurse manager, the nurse was yelling at the other nurse and repeated that she would "smash her face in." After being told to stop fighting and threatening by the manager, the two nurses were sent back to the unit to finish out the shift (there was about an hour left in the shift.)
A few days after the incident, I worked with the nurse who had made the threats and she happily repeated to me how she threatened the other nurse twice with one time being in front of the assistant nurse manager and that management hasn't talked to her any further about the incident. She went on to say that she "has a bad temper" and if she worked with that nurse again she would "knock her out" if she got angry enough. From the first day the nurse has started, she has repeated several times that she has a bad temper and has the attitude that aggressive behavior is justified because of the fact that she has a bad temper.
I felt obligated to tell my managers about the conversation I had with the nurse who made the threats especially since the two nurses were scheduled to work together in a few days. The managers listened to my concerns and indicated that they would schedule a meeting with both nurses. However, the day before they were scheduled to work together, the meeting still hadn't occurred so the nurse who had been threatened expressed her concerns about working with the nurse again because nothing had been resolved. In fact, the nurse who made the threats was telling other nurses about the threat she made (almost in a bragging way) and that she hadn't been reprimanded by management since the incident happened. In response to the nurse's concerns (the nurse who was threatened) the manager told the nurse "just don't start anything and try to ignore her".
The nurse who was threatened ended up calling in sick the nights they were scheduled to work together and the situation still hasn't been resolved. On the new schedule that just came out management still has the two nurses scheduled together on various shifts.
I feel management's lack of response appears like they are condoning violence and intimidation in the workplace and their "let's hope nothing bad happens attitude" isn't
providing a safe work environment for the staff and patients.
