When patients assault staff

Nurses General Nursing

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I am curious on how other nurses and hospitals deal with patients who end up physically assaulting health care staff. My hospital is in an underserved community and we can have rough crowds, lots of homeless, lots of addiction, etc. I have read a lot about violence against nurses and was wondering what would be the appropriate action should a patient actually hit, punch, or hurt me. We do have an internal "code grey" which sends security staff to help assist, but I feel like if it ever got to the point of me getting hurt, it would be up to me to file a police report to take things to the next level. I feel like it is inappropriate to turn a blind eye to a nurse who got punched in the face or assaulted some other way. Has anyone ever done this and did you get any push back from the hospital or management for moving forward with a charge?

Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
7 minutes ago, Curious1997 said:

Everyone incl judges report to supervisors. Judges if asked in court openly and politely, if you were dissatisfied, could you appeal or write to an appropriate source for an opinion, quickly gets that you are serious and know that you won't be pushed around. You never mention social media in a court, but you can mention facebook groups. Judges like people have reputations to protect and you will be putting opposing councel on alert as well. 

 

2 minutes ago, Curious1997 said:

I have mostly found that most violent patients are predictable through their behaviors. Charting is paramount as a reference source for later and as an identified potential problem. This is invaluable for court evidence if applicable. 

With all due respect and fondness for you, Curious, I am curious:

On what factually empirical evidence do you base the premise of these statements?

 

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Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
1 hour ago, JBMmom said:

A couple years ago I was punched in the face by a detoxing patient in the unit. We were boosting him and fortunately for me he had mitts on, but he was still able to get me on the chin hard enough that it hurt for days. I was ready to pass it off as him being out of it- he was on precedex and ativan at the time, but then he continued to taunt me for the rest of the shift and ask how my chin felt. Then he tried to kick my tech in the head when she leaned in to empty his condom catheter. So I ended up calling the police. The officer that responded was beyond rude. He said he couldn't believe that a nurse that was responsible for providing care for critically patients would ever turn against them like that and maybe I shouldn't be doing my line of work if I couldn't handle some of the risks. In hindsight I should have contacted his superior officer and filed some sort of a complaint, but this shift occurred at the end of a particularly stressful run and I just wanted to get home and forget it all. The officer said he would file whatever, but the judge would throw it out because the patient clearly was medically incapacitated. This patient is a frequent flyer and he's known for being completely disrespectful to women and we've all been on the receiving end of lewd comments, snide remarks, he will urinate on staff when he has the chance, even when he's sober and off all meds he's just a jerk. The only reason I wanted to file it was that even if my complaint didn't go anywhere, if there was a record of it then maybe the next time he did it while he wasn't in critical care, there would be a pattern. 

Management and my hospital didn't do anything. 

This kind of dismissive bull crap is what boils my blood. No one tells a police officer "Well maybe you should expect to be shot at in your line of work?" when they get wounded, yet when a nurse or other healthcare worker gets injured we should be angels of mercy that know we signed up to be treated that way. Give me a break. Being sick should not be a license to kill.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
1 hour ago, JBMmom said:

 I ended up calling the police. The officer that responded was beyond rude. He said he couldn't believe that a nurse that was responsible for providing care for critically patients would ever turn against them like that and maybe I shouldn't be doing my line of work if I couldn't handle some of the risks. 

 

19 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

 No one tells a police officer "Well maybe you should expect to be shot at in your line of work?" when they get wounded, yet when a nurse or other healthcare worker gets injured we should be angels of mercy that know we signed up to be treated that way. 

Here, here!

(And thanks for the inspiration!)

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1 hour ago, Davey Do said:

 

With all due respect and fondness for you, Curious, I am curious:

On what factually empirical evidence do you base the premise of these statements?

 

Being dragged into Court by my father when I was younger to try and influence me. Corporate law is incredibly boring. Almost all contracts, in front of judges who know little about corporate law except for proceedings. I would sneak off to the proprietary infraction proceedings where more arguments were likely and negotiations. Judges like everyone else is accountable for their actions legally, if you know how to proceed. Those lawyers are paid stupendous amounts of money by multinationals eg BP in the Louisiana debacle. I saw some of that and it was fun. Those guys are top of their game and they descend with ten or more in a group and they talk about billions not millions. They have private jets and incredible catered lunches etc, but they sell their souls. They defend the indefensible and it's all about negotiating the costs down. 

The govt lawyers are competent at best but they have right on their side and the law. 

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1 hour ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

This kind of dismissive bull crap is what boils my blood. No one tells a police officer "Well maybe you should expect to be shot at in your line of work?" when they get wounded, yet when a nurse or other healthcare worker gets injured we should be angels of mercy that know we signed up to be treated that way. Give me a break. Being sick should not be a license to kill.

Police officers are accountable to Sargeants who are accountable to captains who are accountable to the mayor in that order I think? Polite emails cced to the right people. If you haven't written it down, it didn't happen! 

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Specializes in retired LTC.
On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2021 at 11:18 PM, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

It really is a strange quirk of the legal system. When a healthcare provider is physically harmed, even if the patient was fully aware of what they were doing and that it was wrong the charges are often dismissed or reduced. Yet if the same person were to shoplift, or get charged with possession or some other crime then they get thrown in jail. Makes no sense to me and goes to show how expendable we seem to be.

And what if they were to assault an innocent visitor??. Charges would be forthcoming, I'm sure.

Interesting point. This morning I only caught just a snippet of a TV new report where a Philadelphia (?) physician was stabbed in the face by a pt while she was with a pt. I wonder how the coverage would be reported if it had been a nurse or if the injury wasn't so horrible?

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Oh, and it occurred in a hosp.

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Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
7 hours ago, amoLucia said:

And what if they were to assault an innocent visitor??. Charges would be forthcoming, I'm sure.

Interesting point. This morning I only caught just a snippet of a TV new report where a Philadelphia (?) physician was stabbed in the face by a pt while she was with a pt. I wonder how the coverage would be reported if it had been a nurse or if the injury wasn't so horrible?

There's such a double standard in the legal system when it comes to violence and health care workers. In my neck of the woods, a nurse or other healthcare worker wouldn't make the news if attacked. Maybe a physician, but not a nurse. 

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Moon - just my point. Don't know the 'employee status' of that physician. But she was treating that pt when she was attacked. Police responded and the story made the TV news. That story just piqued my interest.

Wonder if TPTB attempted to dissuade her from filing a police report?

Wonder how the hosp's Public Relations Dept is trying any spin/damage control?

 

 

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Yes. I have had same experiences with patients. I worked at an assisted living facility and this happened occasionally but sometimes it was documented and sometimes it wasn’t. Otherwise it was just a blind eye given to us when it happened. I agree that this is not right and something more I should be done in our favor because we are the ones who are taking care of the patient.  The diagnosis of the patient should not matter and someone should take the blame for this occurring and set up prevention from it occurring again instead of us being assaulted. Whether it’s the facility or whoever it may be. This shouldn’t be ignored.

 

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On 2/10/2021 at 2:39 PM, CaliRN2019 said:

I am curious on how other nurses and hospitals deal with patients who end up physically assaulting health care staff. My hospital is in an underserved community and we can have rough crowds, lots of homeless, lots of addiction, etc. I have read a lot about violence against nurses and was wondering what would be the appropriate action should a patient actually hit, punch, or hurt me. We do have an internal "code grey" which sends security staff to help assist, but I feel like if it ever got to the point of me getting hurt, it would be up to me to file a police report to take things to the next level. I feel like it is inappropriate to turn a blind eye to a nurse who got punched in the face or assaulted some other way. Has anyone ever done this and did you get any push back from the hospital or management for moving forward with a charge?

Does one of your nursing assessments include a BIMS (Brief interview for mental status) score or the like? Social workers in our state use this to identify dementia type impairment. If there BIMS score is above 13, they are cognitively intact. Maybe you can use this type of assessment to hold them accountable. 

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