When patients attack

Published

Have you ever been attacked by a patient? I'd like to hear your story and how you reacted...

Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

The first time was when I was emptying a foley bag and my sweet LOL jumped up and was standing in the middle of her bed She took her foley out and began whipping it on my head as hard as she could while she was calling me Satans' wife. and the second time was I was helping my coworker restrain a little old man We had his arms dow but he kicked me right behind my ear with razorclaws for toenails. That one got me 3 stitchs behind the ear

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.
The first time was when I was emptying a foley bag and my sweet LOL jumped up and was standing in the middle of her bed She took her foley out and began whipping it on my head as hard as she could while she was calling me Satans' wife. and the second time was I was helping my coworker restrain a little old man We had his arms dow but he kicked me right behind my ear with razorclaws for toenails. That one got me 3 stitchs behind the ear

:lol2::yeah: I know you probably wanted to immerse yourself in bleach water after the foley incident, but that is funny. You need to be more selective when picking a spouse. :D

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Specializes in ER.

Funny you should ask this... I'm a new grad (5mo into my job), and I got punched in the jaw twice about 2 weeks ago. The patient was trying to escape down the stairs and my coworker was trying to pull him out of the stairwell, and I went to help her and ended up getting socked in the face not once but twice by this guy.

The best part about this story: my other coworker at the station called a security emergency, but they announced it as a Code Blue and then a Code White. Needless to say the entire hospital was calling trying to figure out what was happening and if they needed to come. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

I have been kicked in te shins as a student in day surgery by a 7 y/o whos mother lied to her and told her she was going to the circus - not coming to go under GA and get 6 teeth out cause they were rotten! (fantastic parenting...... mum just laughed when the brat kicked me!)

Psych placement as a student got punched by a LOL in a residential hostel who was tipping the scales into a full blown episode.

Got my right baby finger broke by a lady with advanced dementia while working in rural Australia. We had aged care and ED. I was the only RN. Had to triage myself and nurse initiate my own panadine! Lucky I'm left handed!

But being 6 foot tall and Irish and with a low nonsense tolerance I am usually sent into calm the patient down! I have had more hugs and cuddles off pts and families that have been arking up than bruises!

Always keep yourself closer to an exit than the pt or family is, if you know there is trouble or think there might be let a colleague know and set a time frame for calling a security response e.g. " if this is still going on in 5 min call a code grey or check on me or let the NIC know"

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Specializes in ICU of all kinds, CVICU, Cath Lab, ER..

Three times and all in the ER. First time, an unrestrained prisoner brought in by police....she had both hands on my throat and the officer who brought her in was extremely embarrassed......eeeeek!!

Attempted to slap my face with her foot.........saved by security officer.

Last was local bank president who went for my face with her manicured nails...again, saved by co-worker........

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Specializes in LTC Family Practice.

Yup...outpatient peds will get you lots of bites, kicks an socks.

The worse was decades ago in an ICU, long before any security, a guy came in after hearing on the news that he'd not killed the person he shot and came looking for him...pointed a gun right in my face and asked where so 'n so was...I pointed right over there sir. He was so drunk he was barely standing so as he walked off the nurses grabbed him, body slammed him to the floor, beat the SH!T out of him...concussion, black eyes, broken nose, several ribs and a nasty case of swollen nah nah's;). Keep in mind other than myself the rest of the ICU nurses were all nuns on that shift...LOL. Couldn't get away with it now but at the time it really ****** me off...they don't pay me enough to get a gun in my face.

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I told him if he did that again I'd sit on him until his transfer to the psych ward and he apologized.

That. is. awesome. You are my hero.

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Specializes in Emergency, Critical Care Transport.

Wasn't my assigned patient, but I was helping out, and a 5150'd young adult male patient in a Posey and 4 points somehow got out of one of his wrist restraints and took a full swing at me - I dodged matrix style, but a volunteer got tagged in the jaw by this jerk. Police were AWESOME, 4 RNs and 3 docs held him down for some haldol/ativan, and then he started singing at the top of his lungs as to how sorry he was - for the next 3 hours.

It was one of those totally surreal moments in the ER where I just wondered if we ever get paid enough for what we do.

I've seen an ex-boxer have to be tased in the ER because he was high on PCP and uncontrollable. It was not a good scene.

And yes, then there are the confused 80-100 year olds who have tried to break my thumb (no joke - ex-army who was really strong), have spit on me, clawed at me, tried to kick, scratch, punch, slap, etc. Awesome.

All I can say is that I make sure there's nothing between me and a door, I stay an arm's length away, and I call security/police BEFORE I think they're needed.

And I have a new respect for spit masks.

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I wish I had your size so I could just sit on them when I'm out of ideas! Nursing actually made my smallness-complex even worse, because I'm often treated like a kid rather than a "professional." Now I realize the bigger problem is that I'd go flying if I ever get kicked!

But don't you think that sometimes your smallness actually works to your advantage? Most people don't want to punch kids, right?

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Nothing between me and a means of egress, ever! :) I've been grabbed a couple of times, once by a demented older pt (my breakaway lanyard broke away), and once by a girl who was trippin' on something -- she grabbed my wrist, I told her in no uncertain terms how that would end, and she let go. It happens. We just have to be aware at all times ... I never let my guard down. I did have a 3-year-old land a good kick in my belly once, when I was starting his IV and my holding person failed to hold the legs ... LOL. Got the IV anyway. Ha!

And for the record, I'm small -- 59" in all my glory. Hahaha.

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Any LTC nurse can verifiy this.

The smaller the little old lady, the more it hurts when they hit, kick, bite, slap, and/ or punch you.

Probably bruises your ego a bit too. Old people don't play around. That's why I will not work in LTC.

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The first time was when I was emptying a foley bag and my sweet LOL jumped up and was standing in the middle of her bed She took her foley out and began whipping it on my head as hard as she could while she was calling me Satans' wife. and the second time was I was helping my coworker restrain a little old man We had his arms dow but he kicked me right behind my ear with razorclaws for toenails. That one got me 3 stitchs behind the ear

Okay...so what do you do!??! Do you say something like "Why did you just do that!? That wasn't very nice, old man" or do you just have to brush it off and continue with whatever your doing. Do you report it somewhere?

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