Assault on the Job Is Not ‘Part of the Job’ for Nurses
New Cancer Nursing Today column & Reminders of events at City of Asylum
New Cancer Nursing Today column
And some sobering statistics on violence against nurses
I was a nursing student the first time I saw a nurse assaulted at work. I’d been sent to shadow in the emergency department (ED), and a patient came in with hepatic encephalopathy. Severe liver disease had caused neurotoxins to accumulate in his brain, making him violent. The patient, who was lying on a gurney, smacked the nurse right in the face, leaving a red mark. It clearly hurt, and security guards rushed in to lock the patient down in 4-point leather restraints.
No one, however, asked the nurse how she was.
When I looked at her questioningly, she waved away my concern, saying, “It’s nothing.” But getting hit on the job is not nothing, and the escalating level of violence against all health care workers, especially nurses, calls for a reckoning with why the problem isn’t taken more seriously.
Statistics on Nurse-Directed Violence
Let me be clear—I am not blaming the nurse for her response. She was an amazing nurse, and her dismissive reaction to being assaulted at work reflected her own on-the-job acculturation. Indeed, the free online workshop from the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) on “Violence Prevention for Nurses” confirms “The perception in health care that being assaulted verbally or physically is ‘part of the job.’”
The statistics on physical assault against nurses are shocking. According to a report published in September 2022 issued by Press Ganey, “On average, 2 nurses are assaulted every hour.” The total number of violent attacks against nurses is “roughly 57 assaults per day, 1,739 assaults per month, and 5,217 assaults per quarter.”
More on this topic from PBS News Weekend:
“What’s behind an alarming rise in violent incidents in health care facilities?”
Great video of Karen Coughlin, chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s workplace violence and abuse prevention task force. Violence is a serious and scary problem and it’s also not new, Coughlin confirms.
In other news…City of Asylum events this Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Examining Diagnosis & Identity with Rachel Aviv,” Tuesday, Sept. 26:
Rachel Aviv’s book—Strangers to Ourselves—is fabulous and this should be an enlightening evening. The event runs from 7-8:30pm EDT live in Pittsburgh and virtually. You can sign up here: Rachel Aviv at CoA. I’ve copied in the promotional material below:
The Healthcare and Humanity Reading Series returns with best-selling author Rachel Aviv! Curated by bestselling author Theresa Brown, R.N. (Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient) and presented in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law, this series features authors whose work explores inequities in the US healthcare system. September’s program centers on Rachel’s book Strangers to Ourselves, which will celebrate the release of its paperback edition on September 19.
In Strangers to Ourselves, Rachel offers a groundbreaking exploration of mental illness and the mind, and illuminates the startling connections between diagnosis and identity. Drawing on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs, Rachel writes about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are. Animated by a profound sense of empathy, Rachel’s gripping exploration is refracted through her own account of living in a hospital ward at the age of six. Challenging the way we understand and talk about illness, her account is a testament to the porousness and resilience of the mind.
Related Workshop: “Reshaping the Stories that Make Us,” Wed, Sept. 27:
I am so excited about this in-person workshop! It runs from 7-8:30pm in Pittsburgh and you can sign up here: Reshaping the Stories that Make Us. The goal is for patients to take what is said about them in their medical records and make it into their own story in whatever way feels right to them. Read more about the workshop below:
In pursuit of re-inserting the patient’s voice as an authority over their medical experience, this workshop, led by memoirist and medical professional Theresa Brown, R.N., will guide participants through a process of breaking down medical documents & rearranging the given words, thus allowing them to examine the interplay between a medicalized and a personal understanding of their body/mind’s experience. Participants are encouraged to bring paperwork or documentation from their own medical/health-related experiences* OR other meaningful documentation they feel connects to and/or describes their medical experience (dictionary definitions, DSM-5 requirements, articles, etc.).
Fall is upon us and I find myself craving soup and wanting to spend my weekends going for a bike ride or hike, or curling up with the dog and a good book. In other words, there are so many great ways to spend my time now that there’s a bit of a chill in the air.
Hugs to all!
Theresa
I like your point about low staffing levels contributing to violence against nurses. I have never thought of this and it worries me because staffing levels in nursing homes(I have always worked in nursing homes) are becoming lower and lower. The violence I have experienced infrequently as a nurse, has usually come from patients with dementia or end stage alcoholism. I feel it is important to educate nurses on how to approach these patients correctly to avoid violence. I have also experienced agitated family members who even though they did not verbally or physically threaten me, they made me nervous by their behavior. Nurses should be able to concentrate on their patients, not worry about being hit or attacked while on the job.
It is insane and terribly sad that somehow being subject to violence has become part of what we expect nurses to put up with. No! Violence is never acceptable, and especially not against healthcare professionals who are trying to save lives. It is good that you are speaking out, Theresa, but it is so sad that this simple truth isn’t obvious to those who have the power to change the situation.