While helping a co-worker (so she could eat lunch) I was threatened by a patient's family; they made specific, violent treats towards me. I immediately reported this to my supervisor and one of our managers, plus the MD available in the unit.
The solution was to have this family therapist (who had been working with the family) come down and speak to them. She wanted to be "gentle" with them, since they are having a stressful time, and said she would approach the issue "through the back door." What she ended up saying to the family was that their "guy talk" was too much for the "young ladies" in the unit, and that they need to tone it down.
I was very upset. When I got home, I told my family about this situation, and my husband is incensed. He feels like they didn't take the situation seriously at all, and that at the very least, security should have been called, if not the police.
I don't feel particularly safe there, and my husband is concerned for my safety as well. There are no metal detectors at my hospital, plus security wasn't even made aware of the potential for a problem. But as far as my unit is concerned, the matter was taken care of by the therapist telling the family to "tone it down."
The therapist said that if the threats continue, she'll have a "family conference" with them to tell them it's not appropriate to talk to the staff that way.
I think this is all BS - that they are catering to this family at the expense of their staff. I'm ****** and fearful of these people, given what they said they want to do to me (and all of our nurses.) My husband doesn't want me to go back there unless the family is dealt with a little more stringently and unless security is at least notified that these people are a potential problem.
I don't know what to do ... if I should talk to my manager again or if we should go to security ourselves or what. Anyone been in this situation before? Thoughts?
