Disagreeable Patients

A friend has been in hospital for some surgery, so for the first time in a good few years I've found myself traveling regularly to the local hospital for a week or two.   

One thing which struck me were the notices pinned up in various locations about "zero tolerance" and how staff are entitled to do their jobs without being assaulted by patients.        Speaking with one of the nurses, it seems that they do get such obnoxious customers fairly regularly these days.

Now this is the new Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, a big outfit in the largest city in the region, but still pretty safe and civilized compared to more urban areas of the country.

I know there are at least one or two of you working in hospitals, so may I ask if things have really gotten that bad?   

I saw a report on this just the other week on Tonight with Trevor MacDonald.  I was shocked.  They interviewed a few different people (hospital workers) who had been attacked both verbally and physically by patients.  One woman - a nurse - was encouraged by her superiors to NOT report the incident in which she was nearly raped by a patient! 

Just despicable!   It's bad enough that it happens at all, but worse that some of these employees have no support from the admin.

I used to work in Denver County Health Medical Center's ER.  They had TWO full-time, on-duty police officers there.  ANYONE who assualted the staff were immediately handcuffed to their beds - possibly sedated - and prosecuted to the max extent of the law.  So it was a real shock to me to hear about how patients are permitted to assault staff here. 

It just struck me that for notices to be everywhere it must have become more than  an odd incident every now and then, and that if a hospital in this relatively safe neck of the woods felt the need for them, what must it be like in the largest cities these days?

I did notice that the corridor leading to the emergency assessment unit had a prominent office with "Security" on the door.  I suppose that's for the drunks who get brought in after fights........

I guess I just find it hard to understand how somebody could be so nasty toward doctors and nurses who are only trying to help them.  And to those of you who are those doctors and nurses, how on earth do you keep from just saying "To heck with you then" and moving on to the people who want to be helped?

There are things about modern society that I just do not get at all. 

I a nurse and I would say that this is a regular occurance.  People don't understand that hospital staff can't be everywhere at once and that the sickest patients need to take priority. 

Last year I was taking care of a man who went into cardiac arrest when I was the only RN on the ward. .  As I was doing CPR on him and waiting for the crash team to get there the son of another patient began harassing me because his mum wanted a pain med.  I told him that I was dealing with a crisis at the minute (jerk could see I was pounding on some guys chest).

Well this guy starts calling me a stupid b*tch and telling me that I drop what I am doing now and get his mum a f---ing paracetamol.  I told him to leave and he grabbed me by my hair and slammed my face into a wall causing my nose to bleed.  Then he went on ranting and raving that patients can't get what they need because  the staff nurses are too goddamn lazy and don't want to be bothered. 

This stuff happens a lot I am afraid. 

Well this guy starts calling me a stupid b*tch and telling me that I drop what I am doing now and get his mum a f---ing paracetamol.  I told him to leave and he grabbed me by my hair and slammed my face into a wall causing my nose to bleed.  Then he went on ranting and raving that patients can't get what they need because  the staff nurses are too goddamn lazy and don't want to be bothered. 

This stuff happens a lot I am afraid. 

You are joking me. That's f***ing awful!!! 

I've heard about abuse of medical staff here and it sickens me that it's such a regular occurance. My mom was a nurse and she never experienced any aggression toward her.

That's terrible Nicole.  Was that here or in the US? (not that it makes any difference, just curious..)

There was an article in the local paper here about how midwives are routinely attacked, both by the pregnant women and their partners. They put it down to a combination of the pain and the drink. Given how bad the drinking is here, amongst other substance abuses, and how many people end up in hospital for a variety of drink-induced accidents and etc, I would suppose that's one reason why attacks on health workers are up, drunken yobs. Plus there's a thuggery element too.

As I was doing CPR on him and waiting for the crash team to get there the son of another patient began harassing me because his mum wanted a pain med. 

Good grief, that's terrible.  How can anybody be that stupid and arrogant?    

The situation I posted about happened in the UK.  I have heard about staff getting attacked in the US as well as the UK but that was the first time I got physically attacked by someone other than a patient with dementia.  I think alcohol was a factor there.    Verbal abuse is a much bigger problem.  Most of the physical assaults come from patients with dementia type problems.  They often hit, kick, scratch and generally lash out but that is forgivable because of their condition.

Here's the articles from our local paper

Violent attacks on midwives increase
14/10/2005
 
By Seanin Graham Health Correspondent 

MIDWIVES are increasingly being subject-ed to violent attacks by pregnant women in hospital delivery suites, according to the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).

Bites, kicks and slaps are suffered by staff at the hands of women who are ‘past themselves’ in labour, while verbal abuse by expectant fathers is also on the rise.

The reports come as new figures reveal a surge in violent attacks on both nurses and midwives, with more than 3,000 incidents reported in Northern Ireland over a 12-month period.

Breedagh Hughes, RCM spokeswoman in Northern Ireland, stressed that the majority of attacks by mothers-to-be were not malicious.

But she highlighted two cases in which midwives had to give up their careers due to the injuries they suffered after being kicked by patients.

“Both women suffered falls and sustained serious back injuries. One of them, who was only in her forties, underwent intensive physiotherapy but was unable to work at all. She eventually took early retirement,” she said.

“A lot of women take this type of physical abuse as part and parcel of their jobs, though it shouldn’t be. The problem is that in recent years women’s expectations of child-birth are so high and that many expect it to be pain-free.

“But there is often a mismatch between their ex-pectations and reality. The epid-ural service for example is dependent on the availability of the anaesthetist. If he or she is not available the patient does not get it.

“Some men find it very hard to cope with the spectacle of their nearest and dearest being in excruciating pain and start shouting at the midwife. They can also use threatening language to intimidate.

“Following delivery, many partners go to the pub to celebrate. They arrive in the ward late at night, sometimes with friends, and are very abusive to staff who try to refuse them entry. Some have threatened to use paramilitary force against midwives.”

A total of 3,337 attacks on nurses and midwifery staff were recorded in the north between April 1 2004 and March 31 – six times the number of attacks on ambulance staff over the last five years.

It is the first time separate figures for attacks on nursing staff have been recorded and come on foot of a parliamentary question.

Janice Smyth, RCN deputy director, said the figures were unacceptable.

She warned nurses could leave the health services if offenders were not dealt with appropriately.

“People need to understand that if they hit a nurse, they will go to jail,” she said.

“We are calling on the Department of Health to address as a matter of great urgency and in conjunction with health service employers, the police and the criminal justice system, why those who attack nurses are not being dealt with appropriately under the law.

“We already know that fear of attacks is a significant factor in why nurses leave the service. Unless decisive action is taken, the health service is going to continue to lose nurses and other staff.”

There was a total of 5,449 violent incidents against healthcare workers between April last year and March 2005.

Seven people have been prosecuted with a further four cases pending.

Patient struck nurse in face
14/10/2005
 
By Seanin Graham 

A STAFF nurse in a Belfast hospital took legal action against a female patient last year after he was punched in the face when he asked her to put out a cigarette.

The case resulted in the patient receiving a three-month suspended sentence.

The nurse, who asked to remain anonymous, said he believed the sentence was too lenient and served as no deterrent for patients who abused healthcare workers.

Speaking to The Irish News, he said he had become more wary of patients since the attack in the waiting room of a busy Accident and Emergency department.

“Verbal abuse of nurses have become so common that many of us do not report it but I felt I had to do something after being struck in a totally unprovoked attack,” he said.

“The woman in question who attacked me was drunk and has since been banned from receiving treatment in the hospital’s A&E department, as she had repeatedly attacked staff.

“Since the incident I have become much more wary of patients. We are trained to recognise the warning signs that could lead to someone becoming aggressive but this incident happened so suddenly.

“The fact that my attacker was a woman took me even more by surprise. It was a very frightening experience.

“What amazes me is how lightly she got off in the courts. She admitted the offence and still only got a suspended sentence. The Department of Health has been operating a ‘zero tolerance’ policy regarding attacks on healthcare workers. What type of message is this sentence sending out?”

The nurse, who has more than 15 years’ experience, said the zero tolerance approach needed to be backed up with increased security in hospitals.

I work in a children's ward and a couple of nights ago we had a dad that began banging on the doors of the ward (they are security monitored so you have to buzz to get in) he came in from the A&E hopped up on coke and wanting to see his son. The charge nurse telephones security and opens the door..it's 2am in the morning and it's an all female staff...everyone one of us is no taller than 5'8" and this guy was 6'+

The charge nurse told him he needed to be considerate because it's late and he needed to comply before she let him in but the more she tried to talk to him the more agitated he became and he begins to shout. Took a bit of time but he did calm down a bit and he went into his son's room. It didn't get any better while in his son's room he begins to shout abusively into his mobile at the top of his lungs...unfortunately I was assigned to look after this patient so I had to go an calmly tell him to keep his voice down there are children asleep ...his own son was in the room sleeping...who was 3 weeks old. Went in there and he took it wrongly and slammed the door of the cubicle.

I wish I can say that's an incident out of the ordinary but it's not. It's a constant fear at work...every year the university gives the student nurses self defense/breakaway training... from how to diffuse an incident to how to escape a possible rape scenario:-\\\\

I'm not trying to make excuses for people who do these things, but if you think about it, you can almost see why people would do/say things to the staff.  Either they or thier loved one is sick, to them, it is the most critical case around.  They are desperate, maybe afraid of what is going on, and they are not thinking straight.  A person without such a personal concection to those who are sick can see that there is a certain level of traige that needs to happen, but those in need of help are blind to the plight of others.  It's a shame, really.

I can recall the early 90s when Daddy was quite ill.  I took him to the ER/clinic at Madigan (millitary hospital where patients are seen in much the same fashion as the NHS).  There we sat, Daddy in a wheelchair barely able to breath, surrounded by folks with colds and coughs, and banged-up knees.  Daddy goes into convultions, litterally, and I scream for help.  The Drs all RUN to Daddy, wheel him into the back room, and some private, in camo and all, there for what looks like a broken finger or something, starts freaking out on the Dr, saying he'd been there for an hour, and "that old man" has only been here 5 minutes.  He was pissed!  The MPs cuffed him, and I imagine he had KP for a while.

Crazy!

Well I can understand people are stressed , scared and things are out of their control...I have deal with parents which are scary people when their child is ill ...I can understand but I can't say I can accept. Not all cases are because they are scared or stressed...there are some out there that feel "you do as I say you're just an employee" others have absolute distrust of the health care sys because they may or may not have been let down by it in the past. Others think they are superior to others because they have private insurance or they live in a certain area...I had to deal with the two most obnoxious parents ....They were going to file a complaint with the hospital because they were denied entry into the operating theatre while their child was getting her tonsils removed. The parents had countless of explanations as to why but the mum kept saying that she didn't care. Then when the child was given a sedative the mum fainted so we had to carry the mum out of the theatre. EVEN after that she wanted to go in...complaining that there wasn't a separate recovery section for private patients...

oh it was such  a mess that day..

.complaining that there wasn't a separate recovery section for private patients

Did she also want a red carpet leading the way to the room from the front entrance?