I went into my patient's room to introduce myself. It looked like he needed a boost and the PCT was in the room. I smiled at him and said, "cross your arms," while demonstrating what he should do. Instead of crossing him arms, he took a full swing at me and slapped me across my face as hard as he could. It hurt really bad and even left a mark on my face. I ran out of the room in tears. I filled out an incident report with the manager and we notified the nursing supervisor. They asked if I wanted to go to the ED but I declined.
He did not speak English so it's hard to say if he's completely alert and oriented and everyone just assumes he's confused. I looked at the physician notes on admission and it did say he was alert and oriented times 3. No history of dementia was noted. We called the family and they stated, "he did this all the time at the nursing home." That makes me so angry. Abuse like this should never be tolerated.
Should I have called the police? I've read about nurses pressing charges for things like this. When I mentioned it, everyone acted like I was crazy.
If the patient had been female, would you have said: "Slapped across the face by female patient"?
Good question. I don't know.
Had I been slapped by a woman I probably would not have been as upset as I was. Something about being a man hitting me really, really infuriated me. I felt it was relevant.
Had I been slapped by a woman I probably would not have been as upset as I was. Something about being a man hitting me really, really infuriated me. I felt it was relevant.
You were more upset about being slapped by a man than the fact you were slapped in the first place?
I think if it was a female patient, just about anyone would say:
"I was slapped across the face by a patient".
This is just where we are in modern times. In the context of intimate relationships, hundreds of peer reviewed studies have found that women are just as violent, if not more violent than men. One study by the CDC, analyzed the self-reports of men and women and concluded that women are primary aggressors in 76% of all intimate partner violence incidents. Science notwithstanding, everyone 'knows' that if a victim of IPV walks into an ED or a clinic, she is certainly female.
Stepping off of my soapbox, I mean no offense and I don't want to take away from this very important discussion.
Your title caught my eye and I wanted to provoke some thought...
I think if it was a female patient, just about anyone would say:
"I was slapped across the face by a patient".
This is just where we are in modern times. In the context of intimate relationships, hundreds of peer reviewed studies have found that women are just as violent, if not more violent than men. One study by the CDC, analyzed the self-reports of men and women and concluded that women are primary aggressors in 76% of all intimate partner violence incidents. Science notwithstanding, everyone 'knows' that if a victim of IPV walks into an ED or a clinic, she is certainly female.
Stepping off of my soapbox, I mean no offense and I don't want to take away from this very important discussion.
Your title caught my eye and I wanted to provoke some thought...
Not an excuse, but if he was confused and doesn't speak English maybe he thought you were invading his space? IDK it's so tough when someone doesn't speak English.
Even if this is the case, it doesn't justify assault.
What if he killed her or left her in a coma? Should he get a pass then, too? I mean, if assessing and getting a translator was all noyesno needed to do better, she must've forgotten a step somewhere, so -- you have to be consistent. The point with the family was not why he did it, it was that he did it, again, and again, again at the nursing home. Maybe if the nurses there had done something about it earlier the whole thing could've been avoided.
Agreed, someone did not pass on adequate information to protect everyone in this.
Anyway, I'm satisfied the good people of New York made the right decision in this case. If you read the link I provided you will see that it encompasses a number of prevention and awareness strategies as well as the teeth in the law. Here is how I see it ...
On the one hand you have a hearing where a judge looks at all the facts of the case , and then decides what to do about it. He has many tools at his or her discretion. He does not automatically toss a mentally ill person in jail for 7 years. The penalties for throwing trash on the freeway are pretty stiff, too, but it's doubtful you'll be seeing people in prison for littering. Evaluating competency would also be done by the court, not the doctor.
On the other hand you have a group of people (nurses) who do not have the same protections as other professionals the same man may encounter along the way, who are just as (if not more) at risk as the nurses are. The same person doing the same thing to a paramedic that he does to the nurse, is held accountable in the first instance and not in the second. Why is that OK?
I'm imagining it now, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't slap the nurse in the face, even if I interpreted the crossed arms as something like "we're going to put you in a straight jacket" which is I guess what you meant by crossed arms as a restraint type fashion?
But if you were delerious and not oriented and someone was speaking to you in a language you did not understand no telling how anyone would react to that.
I don't think she ever touched the guy, or where are you seeing that she pulled back the covers?
One would assume that if she was readying to pull the man up in bed, that covers would be pulled back in order to get to a draw sheet.
My point is this. If this patient was an A&O jerk who slapped this nurse due to the fact she was female or because of some other reason known only to the patient, then I would file away
If this was a demented patient who swings at the slightest touch, then I would change the course of care for the patient.
This is why a thorough shift report needs to be given, (did the other nurses who took care of him prior to OP have these issues?) you need to review the chart (did the nursing home he came from make note of this?)
I am sorry but the OP was set up, in that she was apparently not given the information she needed to protect herself or to take care of the patient. You can't start touching a patient if they have not one clue what you are doing. And in my state, touching an A&O patient without their consent is called battery. No matter what the intent is. I had a patient who was a hitter, septic, delirious. I was well pre-warned. Old school Jamacian, who thought I was the "white devil". Went in with lots of back-up, as he needed to be cleaned up. Had a whole different outlook when the scarring on his body suggested that back home he was in a nursing home that was less than kind to this patient. Fought for his life whenever he was touched, as this had been his only defense. Who knows what the OP patient was hitting for, but OP should have been given this information. There's a huge difference between a patient who smacks a nurse cause she won't give him pain meds for instance, and an elderly patient of questionable mental status, who does not speak or understand English, who has not a clue what the nurse is attempting to do. Health care professionals deserve to be safe, but it takes the team to make it so. Someone dropped the ball on this one, at the expense of the OP.
I'm so sorry this happen to you. I agree with what someone said earlier, the public is so ready to sue healthcare workers. Why shouldn't we also be protected? In a non-nursing job I had a customer verbally threaten me. I called the cops immediately, my employers did not take it seriously until they realized that I was taking it very seriously. They stepped up their reaction but I left that job soon after. I don't know what is wrong with the people on this thread that think you did something wrong, maybe they are frighten by the fact that it could happen to them totally unprovoked. Totally unacceptable for you to be so violently attacked.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
One would assume that if she was readying to pull the man up in bed, that covers would be pulled back in order to get to a draw sheet.
Don't you think the nurse deserves the same standard of diligence when people who didn't witness an event speculate about the mistakes they made, implications that they were partly responsible for the injury, or the consequences of actions one is speculating about, including being charged with the crime of battery?
It appears you aren't affording that fairness to noyesno.
If you read her posts here, you may change your opinion. In summary, she did review the chart, the admission note stated the patient was AOx3 with no hx of dementia, she never touched him, and a Punjabi interpreter was available by telephone, but not called as she gestured in such a way that a person assumed to be alert and oriented would readily understand.
. . .and to think last night I worried nobody would respond to this post.
Sheesh, I'm imagining if noyesno came here and said, "Last night I was slapped by my husband," she'd be asked by quite a few of the previous posters, "Well, did you not get dinner on the table on time?" or "Well if he was drunk, you should have expected that."
File a police report. You're not a judge and jury. You don't have to have all the facts. You don't have to decide if he deserves to be punished/held responsible. You're a victim that files the report so that the incident can be investigated.
I'm sorry to read your experience to your patient who slapped you at your face, well for me sue him! He slapped you with no reason? and as you've said there's no history of Dementia or other Psychological Disorders. As a Nurse we still have the RIGHTS. and being hospitalized is not a reason to have a patience about your patient have done to you.
noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP
834 Posts
Good question. I don't know.
Had I been slapped by a woman I probably would not have been as upset as I was. Something about being a man hitting me really, really infuriated me. I felt it was relevant.