Sexually assaulted at work

Published

Hello all, I made an anonymous account to post this. I’ve worked in psych nursing for going on 8 years, I know we deal with mentally ill patients, who can and are psychotic, violent, aggressive, detoxing, sexually preoccupied etc but when is enough enough?

The department I work in is very secluded from the rest of the hospital. We help the patients when they first get to the hospital and complete their initial paperwork, and complete the assessments and medication reconciliation. Being that our department is the first the patients come to they are often angry/confused/psychotic and that’s about the time they find out they were pink slipped. I’m sure you can imagine how that goes.

My issue is the set up of the department I work in. Usually there are 2 of us, sometimes 3 but for 8 hours of the day, from early morning to mid morning there is only 1 staff member in this department that’s working with these patients as they come into the hospital.  

Recently when another nurse and I were working, we had 2 patients down in the department with us already when a 3rd patient got dropped off to us.  How the department is set up the patients are able to just walk back into where we are sitting (office setting and a lot of objects you don’t want psych patients to have).

Well while I was on the phone with pharmacy trying to get someone’s medications straight, the 3rd patient that got dropped off starts walking back to me, and I end up backed into a corner and grabbed in between the legs and on my arms while he  keeps flashing his member. I was able to yell and my co worker came in and was able to distract him enough for me to get away and out to the main part of our department that is on camera. He was still chasing me but we were to get more staff down there and take him up to a different part of the hospital. 

What should I do? I told my immediate supervisor and she said make sure we get him upstairs/out of the department but didn’t seem overly concerned. Should I email upper management? Even if we just had a half of a door into the department it would help persuade patients to not come back there into the office part.  Am I being dramatic? Is this just expected in psych? 

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

You are NOT being dramatic, and that behavior shouldn't be expected in ANY environment. I would absolutely follow up that incident with emails/calls to anyone in the upper management area that I could find. I'm very sorry that you had to go through that. I probably would have called the police at the time that it occurred, that behavior isn't acceptable in any environment. I hope that your facility finds a better way to deal with potential issues like that. Good luck. 

20
Up Vote Up Vote ×
2 hours ago, Thinkingx said:

Am I being dramatic? Is this just expected in psych? 

No, you’re not being dramatic and the patient’s behavior was unacceptable in any setting. I think that the question mark in the thread title should be removed. What you’ve described is an assault. 
 

2 hours ago, Thinkingx said:

What should I do? I told my immediate supervisor and she said make sure we get him upstairs/out of the department but didn’t seem overly concerned.

Reading this makes me angry. It your supervisor actually thinks this wasn’t a big deal, then in my opinion s/he isn’t the right person for a supervisory position. 

If this had happened to me or a coworker I wouldn’t have hesitated for one second before calling the police. My reasoning would be to let the police and courts decide if diminished capacity applies. That’s not my job. But I would make sure that any individual who commits violent crimes against persons was made aware that kind of behavior won’t be tolerated.

I’m very sorry this happened to you! I’m also sorry that your employer doesn’t appear to have your back. I hope you’re doing okay.

Take care! 

14
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I wouldn't give anyone an inch to focus on the reasons that patient specifically or the reasons any patient might have done something.

I would make this 100% about the fact that your employer has an obligation as a mental health provider to do everything in their power to reduce and eliminate abilities for anyone to be put in danger on their premises. Period.

I'm pretty sure that I would let them know that they can go ahead and do whatever they need to do to make sure that NEVER happens again.

Don't talk too much; it's just an opportunity for others to take things off track.

They need to fix it. Yesterday. THE END.

Very sorry this happened to you.

 

8
Up Vote Up Vote ×

"from early morning to mid morning there is only 1 staff member in this department that’s working with these patients as they come into the hospital. " This part of admission is crisis time. Leaving any nurse alone is dangerous.

 This for profit facility does not care about anyone's safety. They care about their bottom line.

You have been traumatized. See your PCP. Get some time off and look for a safer place to work.

 

18
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.

The previous posters summed it up. I just wanted to say that I'm very sorry this happened to you, it is a big deal and you are not being dramatic.

9
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
4 hours ago, Been there,done that said:

"from early morning to mid morning there is only 1 staff member in this department that’s working with these patients as they come into the hospital. " This part of admission is crisis time. Leaving any nurse alone is dangerous.

 This for profit facility does not care about anyone's safety. They care about their bottom line.

You have been traumatized. See your PCP. Get some time off and look for a safer place to work.

 

This. I hope you get the  help you need. You need to get out of there. I would be taking FMLA myself and looking actively for another job.

7
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Consider contacting you EAP -Employee Assistance Program so that you can be debrifed and provided with support. An incident report should have been filed immediately along with a call to facility risk management department.  DOCUMENT and move  this concern up the chain of command, starting with your department manager.

Take FMLA if needed, seek out options for another position if no immediate changes occur.   Get back to us how your doing when you can.   ((( HUG ))).

 

13
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I can't add anything more except to send (((cyber hugs))) 

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
19 hours ago, Thinkingx said:

The department I work in is very secluded from the rest of the hospital.

 

19 hours ago, Thinkingx said:

they are often angry/confused/psychotic

 

19 hours ago, Thinkingx said:

patients are able to just walk back into where we are sitting (office setting and a lot of objects you don’t want psych patients to have).

 

What you have described is not OK.  It makes no difference how long it has been going on, how many people accept it, etc....   There is no part about working alone in a secluded area with angry psychotic patients that will ever be OK.
 

I am sorry this happened to you, glad it was not worse.  It will happen again to somebody, and will be worse.  The incident that will happen is both predictable and preventable.

You wrote "Even if we just had a half of a door into the department it would help persuade patients to not come back there into the office part."

This is concerning.  I makes me think that you work in an environment that has normalized bad practice.  A half a door is not the solution to this problem.  
 

Good luck, take care of yourself, and remember that the single most important goal of any work day is that you go home healthy.



 

5
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER, Pre-Op, PACU.

No - that is never OK. But yes, hospitals are trying to interpret this as being normal and then acting like it’s the nurse’s fault or we are not being compassionate. This is why I left the ER. I was so angry all the time at things that happened like this and no one cared. I say look for another job - you have nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

You can reference in incident report, staffing issue fails to follow best practice.

National Guidelines for Behavioral Health Crisis Care –A Best Practice Toolkit

Quote
  • 23-hour crisis receiving and stabilization programs

"Staff at all times (24/7/365) with a multidisciplinary team capable of meeting the needs of individuals experiencing all levels of crisis in the community;"

 

 

6
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion