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.
Great comments, Elaine. You offer an important perspective on this issue in talking about whether there are ways to approach patients with dementia or other cognitive impairments in such a way that their violent impulses will be calmed. Bringing up family members is also important. Families get impatient from having to wait, and as you say, as nursing homes become increasingly short staffed that impatience is going to grow. Nursing is hard enough without having to worry about being assaulted--it makes a tough job even harder and scary. Thank you for writing and sharing your experiences--they really add to the discussion.
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.
Great points, Mari! In reading your comment I started to think about women who are victims of domestic violence. For so long, that kind of violence was seen as acceptable. The same could be said of corporal punishment of children, which many people still strongly believe in as an appropriate and needed form of discipline. But violence begets violence, and hurting people does not teach them anything except that abuse can be a form of power. I've gotten a bit afield from what you said, but your phrasing of this as a "simple truth" is powerful, along with stating that it is insane that nurses are supposed to accept being hit as part of the job. Thanks for the excellent and highly moral thoughts. Let's all agree that hitting people is bad (unless in obvious self-defense, of course) and go from there.
Very sobering column, Theresa, and I think indicative of a general loss of personal safety in our medical facilities. The days of those facilities being free of violence are over, sadly, and efforts to enhance security at healthcare spaces are needed.
The other part, the not reporting, seems similar to what I’ve seen among my fellow clinicians. It is not arrogance, or a belief that we are superhuman, at least in my opinion: I think it is a feeling that we have been trained to experience the realities of life more so than most people, and part of life is conflict. Armed with that understanding, we learn protective measures for attacks from our patients, like the nurse you mentioned in the beginning of your column, Theresa. Now we need to add another piece: reporting such instances so we can prevent further episodes system-wide. That closes the loop on a process needed in the increasingly stressed and violent atmosphere we encounter in our workplace.
Excellent comment, Lou! You are smart to highlight the problem and then take it to the next level, saying that we need to increase reporting, and the responses of health care systems to violence, and also educate all health care workers that violence on the job is not OK. Our entire society needs to de-escalate. We can start that in health care facilities by dealing with patients and family members with compassionate efficient care. So much good could be done by putting more money into frontline care, less into CEO salaries and paying the burgeoning numbers of health care middle managers.
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.
Great comments, Elaine. You offer an important perspective on this issue in talking about whether there are ways to approach patients with dementia or other cognitive impairments in such a way that their violent impulses will be calmed. Bringing up family members is also important. Families get impatient from having to wait, and as you say, as nursing homes become increasingly short staffed that impatience is going to grow. Nursing is hard enough without having to worry about being assaulted--it makes a tough job even harder and scary. Thank you for writing and sharing your experiences--they really add to the discussion.
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.
Great points, Mari! In reading your comment I started to think about women who are victims of domestic violence. For so long, that kind of violence was seen as acceptable. The same could be said of corporal punishment of children, which many people still strongly believe in as an appropriate and needed form of discipline. But violence begets violence, and hurting people does not teach them anything except that abuse can be a form of power. I've gotten a bit afield from what you said, but your phrasing of this as a "simple truth" is powerful, along with stating that it is insane that nurses are supposed to accept being hit as part of the job. Thanks for the excellent and highly moral thoughts. Let's all agree that hitting people is bad (unless in obvious self-defense, of course) and go from there.
Very sobering column, Theresa, and I think indicative of a general loss of personal safety in our medical facilities. The days of those facilities being free of violence are over, sadly, and efforts to enhance security at healthcare spaces are needed.
The other part, the not reporting, seems similar to what I’ve seen among my fellow clinicians. It is not arrogance, or a belief that we are superhuman, at least in my opinion: I think it is a feeling that we have been trained to experience the realities of life more so than most people, and part of life is conflict. Armed with that understanding, we learn protective measures for attacks from our patients, like the nurse you mentioned in the beginning of your column, Theresa. Now we need to add another piece: reporting such instances so we can prevent further episodes system-wide. That closes the loop on a process needed in the increasingly stressed and violent atmosphere we encounter in our workplace.
Excellent comment, Lou! You are smart to highlight the problem and then take it to the next level, saying that we need to increase reporting, and the responses of health care systems to violence, and also educate all health care workers that violence on the job is not OK. Our entire society needs to de-escalate. We can start that in health care facilities by dealing with patients and family members with compassionate efficient care. So much good could be done by putting more money into frontline care, less into CEO salaries and paying the burgeoning numbers of health care middle managers.