Threatened by patient

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I work in OB and tonight I was threatened by a patient. She actually was chasing me down the hall when a coworker intervened and stopped her. I called the nursing supervisor who was on her way up to the unit with security when the charge nurse told her not to come or bring security in order to " not get patient worked up again". Needless to say I'm disappointed. If it was the other way around and I threatened to physically harm a patient security, police and the BON would have been called. However, patients are allowed to treat staff however they want to with little to no consequences.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
You are probably safer than someone working in the public

sector. You have guards and the population is mostly institutionalized so they know the routine. :)

That's a shame & it shouldn't be that way. :(

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

I was bitten, still have the scar, by a pt under the influence (pta). In my state, that's a felony (battery on health care worker in course of their duties). Security had been called but hadn't gotten there yet. Police notified, arrested said person, later convicted of 2 felony counts. I had to appear before the grand jury; she pled guilty so didn't have to go to the trial.

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The Nursing Supervisor and security should've come anyway....I personally would not accept this..I would go to my Director and take it from there. Regardless of what some think, nurses should not be expected to take abuse - physical or verbal - from other coworkers, staff, patients, etc. The patient needed to see that her behavior was not going to be tolerated. I'm sorry this happened to you but more so that your Charge Nurse was not supportive to the point he/she should've been.

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There was a time during my clinicals where a confused patient hit me. What happened was I just got out of my patient's room and someone's bed alarm was going off but the room was across the unit. I decided not to go right away thinking someone else would get it (I know, not a good idea) but after a good 10 seconds, I figured I should go check to make sure. I ran down the hall to the patient's room which to my surprise, no one was in there, except the patient. The patient was trying to stand up but I asked him to get back in bed to which he replied "If you don't back off, I'm going to throw my pee at you" with half a full urinal in his hand of course. I didn't budge so (thankfully) he put the urinal down and tried to push out of the bed but me and the CNA held him back, he then fell back into his bed with his arms free and decided to punch me in the gut. There was no injury and I barely felt it but you really have to be careful around some patients. Another tip, always respond to those bed alarms when you hear them, never assume anything :wideyed:

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I was threatened by someone who had "many weapons" at his disposal. I reported it to the proper powers and they persued it until they found out he was friends with the chief of police, than all of a sudden it was a "joke". I sought alternative employment after that!

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Do the incident report. Reporting is the only way to ensure practice aligns with policy. Maybe the CN made the wrong call; maybe the supervisor enroute with security should not have turned away. YOU can allow the process to work, only by way of first submitting the incident report. It will be investigated. The incident report is the only way to quantify if staff are regularly subjected to an unsafe workplace.

Document the events in an incident report. Maybe you have not completed an incident report before. It's not nearly as intimidating as your patient, I promise!

Just the facts. What you said "in quotes" and what the patient said "in quotes". Date. Time. Names. What you did and what the patient did. Leave out your thoughts and feelings. Leave out what you thought patient was thinking or about to do. Document what was said and what was done.

The most effective method to accomplish results is to write it down. Always keep a copy for you!

Best regards.

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Specializes in Obstetrics, Neonatal, Pediatrics.

Starting with Texas legislation is beginning to be passed making the assault of an RN a felony offense. I work OB and the issues I've seen have been with the father of the baby's. Had one actually lunge towards me after threatening to knock me out. I immediately called a code and within a minute or two the guy was suddenly changing his tune as 20+ male RN'S and Techs's stared at him through the room door. We'll always try to descalate, but once the line has been crossed and patient and/or staff safety is at riak, I waste no time removing the individual(s).

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Specializes in hospital float.

It's funny how quickly someone would be arrested for threatening or assaulting a police officer, yet nurses deal with this daily and the perpetrators suffer zero consequences.

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Specializes in hospital float.

What State is this?

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That is probably because nurses are threatened by administration if they call the police and press charges.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN (ret)

Somewhere in the PACNW

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No offense I agree with the supervisors desision. I also understand how you feel. That's why.every facility whether it be a hospital to a nursing home. They all have resources such as documentation to protect you and get the patients the proper help they need without scaring the patient and blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Starting as a C.N.A you take a oath to care for every and any person. No matter how miner or serious. I won't go further into this but just ask your self if you were that person and that facility was there to protect you. How safe would you feel with security coming after you to through you out. Or a caring nurse to report it to the supervisor on duty and try to calm the situation. Maybe with a nurse that understands that patient better. Until they get the proper treatment. I work 69 hr weekends sometimes you just need to take a deep breath walk away and take the proper procedures that most of us are trained to do.

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New military nurse, BUT have been in the service for 20 years. Nothing prepared me for this.

I've been attacked so many times by VA med-psych patients on our med-surg floor. Spit on, punched, kicked, disarmed a meth addict with a knife, got assaulted in the hallway off the ward, and had patients who swore they were going to come back and kill me (some described the weapons and ways). We call the military police but wth are they going to do besides fill out paperwork and ask if we want to press charges.

I'm probably one of the last people you would want to fight, but it always seems to get worse when I show up. No matter how therapeutic I am. It got so bad that I hated going into work. Always worried I was going to hurt someone really bad. Hasn't happened in 3 months though so I'm all good for now

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