Why do we stay in a profession that uses us as punching bags?

1. Recently I went around asking people ",DO YOU KNOW THAT HEALTHCARE WORKERS GET ASSAULTED"? The answer was in most cases" no I never heard that". I really wasn't surprised but I wondered why.

Are nurses or any, healthcare professionals, like a battered woman?
We as the public( speaking of a battered woman) would yell and scream "she is crazy to stay with him, look what she is teaching her children, why doesn't she leave?"! ETC, ETC.
As professionals are we Afraid to stand up for themselves?
Is fear the only issue?
The answer to this question has many facets.( losing the job, not looking good in someone's  eyes, paying bills. The list goes on.)
I once spoke to a co worker that stated she was kicked by a patient, I asked her if she had the physician look at the area she was kicked. She stated NO, I asked did you make out a incident report? Again the answer was NO. I asked why, her answer was "well it really wasn't that bad"!
How bad does it have to be before something is done???? Allowing anyone to spit,kick,slap,pinch and punch is wrong. So easy to say.....
Incident reports have to be made out so the institution knows what is really happening. Follow up to the person that has been assaulted is also important.
We as healthcare workers ( EMS, Nurses,NP, physician asst, Doctors, xray techs, Medical asst. and this list  goes on) are the hero's .
I want to thank each and every one for the work you do. Be safe.
Please go to www.stophealthcareviolence.org to see how your life as a nurse can change after an assault.

"I am Fine"

It is a little over a year ago that one of my coworkers was assaulted by a patient that was brought to the ER by EMS.I was working that night and saw the aftermath of this assault. I saw this man(after he punched the nurse in the face) beating himself on his face and chest yelling "come and get me"
I wrote her story and I was very lucky it got published in Advance for Nurses magazine.
http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Lifestyles-for-Nurses/Columns/Tell-Us-Your-Nursing-Story/I-Am-Fine-but-Violence-in-the-ED-is-Not.aspx
It is quite a story ,however what isn't in the story is the horrific PTSD this nurse has experienced and her day in court.
When a healthcare worker gets assaulted it is devastating, it changes your life. Please go to www.stophealthcareviolence.org there are many videos and other stories of nurses getting assaulted. Thank You 

Shooting in the ER

Thinking about the incident in the Boston ER ,where the prisoner tried to take a gun away from the guard and shooting him in the leg because he couldn't get the gun out of the holster and the other guard shooting the prisoner in the chest makes me very aware how much violence there really is . The violence of different community's are invading places that should be safe for the staff and the visitors. 
I wasn't at this scene today so I am writing this blog on reports that I have have heard on the TV.
I would like to comment on this. I have worked in Emergency rooms and seen what guards and police do when they are with patients that are prisoners.
 I want to thank those guards that were there  ,they had to be not only well trained but really take their job seriously. Knowing the layout of many hospital ER's I could imagine the harm that could have come to the staff and patients.
I believe the guards with their actions saved the staff and the patients from grave danger. Thank You .

Why don't things change?

I am very passionate about violence in the workplace. As employees ,we should be protected from the people we serve. Why doesn't this happen?
Communication is the best why : writing out incident reports, following up on them. Calling risk management and asking what is being done about the assaults ,police reports, calling the union ( you pay the union )to do something, ask them and have them listen to some ideas on how you think the violence could be handled.
But I bet you know all that. So ask yourself why do the things that matter to you aren't changing?
I already wrote that communication was the best why to get your points heard.

 I was giving a talk in another country recently ,after my talk I was invited to visit with the director of the ED and a few other folks. We spoke about healthcare violence, some of the ideas they shared with me was: Having many trained security guards to keep the hospital safe. another thing they spoke of is the ambulance bay door.
 The ambulance door is very strong ,it can withstand 2,000 pounds of pressure without breaking,but it can bend. I asked why they needed a door that needed to be that strong. He stated, "to protect the staff"I was also told that in another country if a patient acts up and assaults a health care provider, that person is allowed to come back ,however s/he will have a security guard or two with them . The payment for this ,is the patients responsibly.
I was just reading NURSING the finest art by M.Patricia Donahue,PhD,RN,FAAN
"Japan has been in the forefront of engineering a variety of robotic caretakers"
Here is a few ideas ,Don't be afraid of change,be afraid of not changing,be a change agent in your institution.

Nurses lives have been changed after being assaulted!

Nurses and other health care workers are getting assaulted more frequently . In the emails I have received, healthcare workers feel nothing by their administration is being done. In some cases they have been told it is  "part of the job". It is year 2013 it is not part of the job! It really was never part of the job, we are caregivers not police men/women. We carry stethoscopes not guns.

WE need to make the assaults heard, the institution needs to know how often the assaults happen.  "I didn't write out an incident report, nothing will get done anyway" This comment and thought is really old and tiresome.

What is workplace violence????????????

"According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH)

Workplace violence is an act of aggression directed toward persons at work or

on duty and ranges from offensive or threatening language to homicide"

This is an act of aggression, A nurse helping a patient, not her only injury!

New State law hasn't help these nurses!

Recently, I received an email stating that there is no one ( union or management) in their institution that can give crystal clear guidelines to how to press charges after being assaulted at work by a patient. This email came from a nurse in the state of Conn. Their Gov.Dannel P Molloy signed into law ,violence against health care workers would result in a class C felony.
How can this happen? Why wouldn't the union be able to handle a little thing like How to press charges? A Union charges a lot of money to represent the Nurses but it is really the nurses that make up a union. Are the nurses afraid  to make a lot of noise? Could it be that the nurses feel it is part of their job to get assaulted? Why are institutions willing to stop the violence?
One more thing, in the State of MA. I have been told several hospitals are not having ant workplace violence committee meetings,when I asked why, one response was "we never seem to get the time" the other response was: it's the unions job to hold the meetings and no one is fighting this.
This is year 2013 and heath care workers are still getting assaulted. MNA worked hard on getting a bill passed ,As nurses are we using this bill to help stop the violence? We need to do better and we need to do it now!  BUT HOW?