Attacks on ER Nurses on the Rise

[underpants]

I read an article on this in the Roanoke paper on Sunday. Very disturbing development.

http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/08/11/attacks-on-er-nurses-on-the-rise/

"The emergency room is a high-risk area to be assaulted," says Debra Bibartolo, a member of New York State Emergency Nurses Association Government Affair Committee and AOL Health's nursing specialist. "Nurses get hit. It's reality."

The New York bill is one of many throughout the country that would make an attack on a nurse a felony charge instead of a misdemeanor, which is much needed due to an upswing in the number of ER nurses being assaulted, the Associated Press reports.

Drug and alcohol addicts, as well as mentally unstable patients, are turning to the emergency rooms in time of need and in an environment where the patient always comes first, these nurses are putting themselves at risk every day.

The AP reports that, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, drug- and alcohol-related emergency room visits have increased from about 1.6 million in 2005 to almost two million in 2008. During those same two years the number of those visits that turned violent increased by more than 5,000.

[Heddi]

1. I'm an ER RN. I got kicked in the babymaker last week.

Violent patient kicks me and *I* have to take a drug test ***JUST FOR FILLING OUT PAPERWORK*** I was never seen (I chose not to be). Just filling out the incident report makes me take a piss test. The guy that kicked me in the uterus---meh, no big deal...even though cops were standing there when he did it. No arrest, no charges....

If I had a dollar for every time I was physically, verbally, or sexually assaulted, I'd be a very rich woman.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. I had no idea... Glad you are ok

[foxfeet]

3. WA State has a statute specifically authorizing charges and stiff penalties

for assault on a health care worker. It is enforced, as it should be.

[Warpy]

8. Management, stuck on themselves and their customer service model

of health care, actively discourage health care workers from filing incident reports, let alone pressing charges.

One of my colleagues was fired for pressing charges against a patient who punched her full in the face and fractured her orbit.

He said he liked punching women. Nice guy.

And they wonder why 50% of licensed RNs have quit due to working conditions.

[Heddi]

14. Sadly I won't be an RN in Washington again until 3 weeks from now. FL has no such law

if they did I'm sure we'd be even more discouraged from filing reports than we already are. Management *really* doesn't care if we get assaulted. They do care if we try to file a report or press charges.We might make the company look bad. And no, there's no Unionization out here. FL is an at-will state. So they can fire me, legally, no reason. Of course the reason is that I filled out an incident report because I got kicked in the fucking abdomen, but they don't have to give a reason, and I have the burden of proof that I was fired wrongly (note: I was not fired, just illustrating that it would be very easy for me to).

[MadMaddie]

20. 3 weeks and counting down

Here's a big welcome back to Washington from the Eastside of Seattle!!

[underpants]

5. That appears to be the way now

I had no idea about this until I read the article.

Lemme guess - security guards cost money and that hurts the bottom line for hospital... not to mention YOUR "bottom line"

Sorry to hear that Heddi.

[Heddi]

15. we do have security guards....85 year old guys with arthritis.

I mean don't get me wrong...they're nice guys, glad that we're hiring older folks...but really, put the 75 year old, 125 lb security guard against a 350 lb meth head on PCP, and you really don't have a whole bunch of "Security" on your side.

They used to actually have a police officer on site at the ER 24 hours a day after one of the nurses was beaten into a coma while walking to his car at 3am after his shift ended. They did that to prevent that RN from filing an unsafe workplace complaint. They got rid of the cop about a year later because it was 'too expensive'.

[Lars39]

6. Wouldn't ya think those in a high-risk job like police work would

stick up for the very nurses that just might be saving their lives some day?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. You know here is the difference between the US

and Mexico.

As a paramedic I got assaulted by a lovely patient using a nice... broken bottle at a bar. In self defense I used my mag light... wasn't pretty.

He wanted to charge me for assault. The DA pointed out that they'd be willing to overlook the charges on him, since I did manage to break a couple bones in SELF DEFENSE.

Another chap pulled a gun on me. He did 20 just for that one. Add the rest of the charges, like DUI, and manslaughter.

[cynatnite]

4. I was an ER Tech and was hit in the face once...

Another time a patient went after one of the nurses and it took several of us to get a handle on him. We had no cops around that night.

It can get dangerous.

[Texasgal]

7. A former triage nurse here..

Violence happened to me 3 times during my seven year run.

One of those times required stitches to my upper left eye lid.

We get shat upon more times than people know, even now in private practice ( as a surgical nurse ) I cannot tell you how many family members have become verbally and physically violent!

[cynatnite]

10. I had a drunk guy ball up his fist like he was going to lay me out...

His brother had a MI at a party. Half the family was intoxicated. Fortunately, a cop showed up and he back down.

My mother says I defend health care workers too much, but I worked as an aide, a medic, an EMT, and an ER tech for a very long time. I know how hard that work is and what it takes to do it. Nurses are tough as nails.

I do think nurses should be treated as valuable as we treat our vets. :patriot:

[WolverineDG]

9. If an ER nurse comes at me with a syringe full of penicillin

AFTER I've told her I'm allergic to it, I will do whatever I feel is necessary to protect myself. That shit can kill me. I actually had one argue with me about it the last time I had to go to the ER. Do they actually teach nurses to tell patients they're crazy if they think they're allergic to penicillin now?

dg

[REP]

12. No shit. And residents who don't know not to inject nephrotic patients with Toradol

I just don't go to the ER any more. The nurses are usually very professional, but the residents could use a good punching.

[w8liftinglady]

24. that used to be MY job as head nurse in a teaching hospital...the punching part

...actually,we would have a conversation...if the resident was still unresponsive,I would call the atending.They DID respect the nursing staff....and the resident generally wouldn't repeat same mistake twice.

[customerserviceguy]

11. When the assaults are from those who are not responsible for their actions

how effective can criminal penalties be? It seems that properly restraining those who are mentally ill, drunk, or under the influence of drugs is the way to combat this problem, along with legally excusing those who apply the restraints when in reasonable doubt.

[Heddi]

16. The liability with restraints is *HUGE*. We are strongly discouraged from using them. We don't even

HAVE them in the ER.

If I need to restrain a patient this is the procedure I have to go through:

Get 2 ED Doctors to agree the patient needs to be restrained (hard if there's only 1 doc in the ER at that time)
Notify the Charge Nurse and she does an independent assessment of the patient
The Charge Nurse notifies the House Supervisor who then does an independent assessment of the patient
The Nursing Supervisor is not allowed to come into the ER with restraints when she does her assessment. Instead, she has to leave the ER, go to her office, unlock the restraints and bring them back to the ER>

Then, in front of my Charge RN and the Nursing Supervisor, I have to do a FOURTH assessment for restraints. Then they are applied and I have to chart literally 80 different criteria every 15 minutes for the duration the patient is restrained.

Now, gramma trying to crawl out of bed...kind of have the time to do that.

Johnny the Meth Head trying to stab my coworker with a fucking broken blood tube....no way. No time.

Someone with a head injury striking nurses...no way, no time.

The liability for Restraints is enormous. If someone dies----for any reason---while they're restrained, it's a big fucking deal for the Hospital

And yes, Johnny the MethHead did stab my coworker with a broken blood tube a while ago. We weren't allowed to use restraints on him because the nursing supervisor didn't think it was necessary. She also "strongly encouraged" my coworker to re-consider his calling the police to have the patient arrested for stabbing him with a broken blood tube. The message sent: it's okay to go to work, clock in, and be attacked and need to get 15 stitches. That's what we expect of you. And you cannot expect any measure of safety.

]

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. There are so many reasons why I will NOT go into any medical field

in the US... that is one of them.

We were allowed to use soft restraints on patients who were combative.

Granted, If they did hurt me (severely hypoglycemic patient who bit me... well the fight then was to get that patient tested for blood borne... ) yes we did restrain, start IV and followed protocol and removed restraints once he was more or less back with the living. The shortest use of restraints I have ever experienced.

But docs had no issue at the ER... and we medics were allowed to...

This shit will only stop IF there is a major scandal with medical personnel hurt or killed... and I am not counting on that either.

[cynatnite]

18. We used them on our head injury patients when I worked neurosurgery...

More than once we had to chase patients running down the hallway or they would get combative. It wasn't their fault either. Head injuries are so unpredictable.

[w8liftinglady]

22. they used them on me immediately post-op MY brain surgery

...they needed to do it.The cerebral edema I suffered causes changes in personality that the patient has no control over.

When I worked in the MICU,all our patients were intubated on ventillators.as we weaned them,it became necessary to restrain,so they wouldn't extubate prematurely.It is much harder to reintubate when the patient has a swollen trachea.Not all restraints are uncalled for.

[Warpy]

26. Yes, I gave phone permission for them to use them on my dad

after his carotid surgery. I know what it's like when they wake up confused and start yanking tubes, especially those ET tubes.

While restraints make confused patients more agitated, they still need to be used to protect the patient and the staff. Compassion suggests sedation when possible. It's just not possible with neuro patients much of the time.

[Warpy]

19. A patient made it out the fire door

and did a swan dive off the roof one flight above, an eight story building.

After that, management shut the fuck up about restraints on wild patients.

We needed an order and a documented refusal of the family to come in and sit.

[philly_bob]

21. Upsetting news. Just a note: most patients love you, nurses.

Sez a guy who just got out of hospital...

Probably doesn't feel like it, but most LUV you.

[w8liftinglady]

23. we love them,too......most of them ;)

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

25. True Story....

Here in Milwaukee, a woman came in to the hospital to give birth. She had several names on her "Do Not Visit" list, but a group of four girls, lead by the ex-girlfriend of the new baby's father, lied their way past the nurse, entered the woman's room, closed the door, and beat the crap out of her.

WTF are these morans thinking? All were arrested before they got out of the hospital and now they're going to do some time.

Friggin' idiots.