We, as nurses and healthcare workers, need to do better.
Does that statement surprise you? Shock you? Anger you?
Allow me to explain.
A 62-year-old New Jersey nurse is recovering from a broken nose after being assaulted by a patient.
In the July 5, 2016 issue of My Central Jersey/USA Today, reporter Mike Deak wrote that 28-year-old patient Mauri Pierce was being weighed as part of the admission process to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital when she stood up from her wheelchair and struck the nurse in the nose with two open palms, breaking her nose and causing her to fall backward and strike her head against a wall. Pierce then started to run away but was caught by security, and ultimately charged with aggravated assault.
A broken nose can take an extended time to heal, and can cause many permanent complications, including altered appearance, change in or loss of sense of smell, and breathing difficulty.
This attack is a vicious and unwarranted act of violence.
According to a study by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), every week in the United States between 8% and 13% of emergency department nurses are victims of physical violence. More than half those nurses (a mean of 54.8%) surveyed by ENA reported experiencing physical or verbal abuse at work in the last seven days.
I don’t know if Ms. Pierce was being admitted to the emergency room, but let me be clear: it isn’t only ER nurses that are being assaulted. Violent incidents against healthcare workers are occurring hospital-wide as well as in the field.
So, to return to my initial premise, we, as nurses and healthcare workers, need to do better.
We need to take responsibility for protecting ourselves and our coworkers.
We need to report incidents of assault.
We need to press charges.
We need to be vocal about the violence occurring against healthcare workers.
We need to insist that administration and management support us, work with us, and protect us. We need to push for reform from the top down, compel administration to develop and institute staff safety and violence prevention programs, procedures, training and follow up.
Because if we don’t stand up and speak, if we do nothing, nothing will change.
Sheila Wilson R.N. BSN MPH
President, Stop Healthcare Violence
www.stophealthcareviolence.org
Source:
MyCentralJersey.com
Does that statement surprise you? Shock you? Anger you?
Allow me to explain.
A 62-year-old New Jersey nurse is recovering from a broken nose after being assaulted by a patient.
In the July 5, 2016 issue of My Central Jersey/USA Today, reporter Mike Deak wrote that 28-year-old patient Mauri Pierce was being weighed as part of the admission process to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital when she stood up from her wheelchair and struck the nurse in the nose with two open palms, breaking her nose and causing her to fall backward and strike her head against a wall. Pierce then started to run away but was caught by security, and ultimately charged with aggravated assault.
A broken nose can take an extended time to heal, and can cause many permanent complications, including altered appearance, change in or loss of sense of smell, and breathing difficulty.
This attack is a vicious and unwarranted act of violence.
According to a study by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), every week in the United States between 8% and 13% of emergency department nurses are victims of physical violence. More than half those nurses (a mean of 54.8%) surveyed by ENA reported experiencing physical or verbal abuse at work in the last seven days.
I don’t know if Ms. Pierce was being admitted to the emergency room, but let me be clear: it isn’t only ER nurses that are being assaulted. Violent incidents against healthcare workers are occurring hospital-wide as well as in the field.
So, to return to my initial premise, we, as nurses and healthcare workers, need to do better.
We need to take responsibility for protecting ourselves and our coworkers.
We need to report incidents of assault.
We need to press charges.
We need to be vocal about the violence occurring against healthcare workers.
We need to insist that administration and management support us, work with us, and protect us. We need to push for reform from the top down, compel administration to develop and institute staff safety and violence prevention programs, procedures, training and follow up.
Because if we don’t stand up and speak, if we do nothing, nothing will change.
Sheila Wilson R.N. BSN MPH
President, Stop Healthcare Violence
www.stophealthcareviolence.org
Source:
MyCentralJersey.com
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