Reblog: Bitten, shot, spat on: Violence in hospitals common for staff – CNN.com
You would never go into the supermarket and say ‘the tomatoes aren’t good enough’ and punch the clerk and get away with it. That’s exactly that happens in the emergency departments all over the U.S.
THANK you. The ENA just found that a disturbingly high percentage of ER nurses think violence is just part of the job. It is, but the acceptance shouldn’t be there. My department has a zero-tolerance policy and actually implements it, which means I still get hurt but they treat me if necessary and are taking giant strides to help us deescalate and anticipate violence. I just went to a fairly long class invented for our ER nurses on how we can protect ourselves while also protecting patients, and it was worth its weight in gold. I hope other ERs do the same. Our security staff is awesome and come at a gallop when called. So is our local PD.
But you can’t anticipate the out-of-the-blue whallop, kick, or arm-breaking grab. I still usually have bruises in various stages of healing, and I’ve had one doc visit and one x-ray just in a year for beyond-bruising injuries. I AM getting learned helplessness about it. I see where the acceptance comes from, but I. Must. Resist.
