This weekend's edition of the Patriot Ledger posted an article on hospital staffing at Pembroke hospital.
The article described how OSHA had issued a hazard-alert letter to Pembroke Hospital, a for-profit, 120-bed psychiatric facility, in October 2015 after it conducted a surprise inspection FOUR MONTHS prior in May 2015.
According to the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, MA, the hazard-alert cited:
I wonder: would Pembroke Hospital administration indicate in any job description that as a worker one could expect to be assaulted?
"PART OF THE JOB?" I certainly hope not.
Read the 2/26/16 Patriot Ledger article here,
along with a 2/29/16 (reposted 3/2/16) follow up article here
I wanted to post this because I feel nursing is a wonderful career… but it is dangerous.
Here is another frightening story from an op-ed in the New York Times:
I would like to express my sincere thanks to every nurse and mental health worker who works in this capacity. You are all angels.
And please: Work together, get involved with legislation, make noise about the assaults, create a record and a paper trail.
Sheila Wilson R.N.BSN MPH
President & CEO
Stop Healthcare Violence
www.stophealthcareviolence.org
The article described how OSHA had issued a hazard-alert letter to Pembroke Hospital, a for-profit, 120-bed psychiatric facility, in October 2015 after it conducted a surprise inspection FOUR MONTHS prior in May 2015.
According to the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, MA, the hazard-alert cited:
"Mental health associates are exposed to workplace violence hazards while working with acute patients…”
"almost all interviewed employees had been struck by a patient”
"Workers do not have any panic buttons … to call for immediate help. Sometimes patients attack from behind and on acute floors, the mirrors have been taken down for patient safety”.Wait, did I read that correctly? That staffers in a high-risk environment are not even armed with panic buttons?
I wonder: would Pembroke Hospital administration indicate in any job description that as a worker one could expect to be assaulted?
"PART OF THE JOB?" I certainly hope not.
Read the 2/26/16 Patriot Ledger article here,
along with a 2/29/16 (reposted 3/2/16) follow up article here
I wanted to post this because I feel nursing is a wonderful career… but it is dangerous.
Here is another frightening story from an op-ed in the New York Times:
Where Hell is Other Patients
by STEPHEN SEAGER NOV. 10, 2014 - The New York Times Opinion Pages
NAPA, Calif. — In the public imagination, forensic mental hospitals — where states place the criminally insane — are hellish scenes of cages and restraints, the better to keep us safe from the Hannibal Lecters of the world.
And it’s true that these hospitals, including the one where I work, are hellish. But not because the patients are restrained. In fact, it’s the opposite. Patients, even violent ones, are often given a shocking amount of freedom. As a consequence, every day, across the country, these hospitals record dozens of assaults by patients against staff members and other patients — a situation that, thanks to expanded patients’ rights laws and state health bureaucracies, we can do almost nothing about…
Continue reading the full op-ed here
I would like to express my sincere thanks to every nurse and mental health worker who works in this capacity. You are all angels.
And please: Work together, get involved with legislation, make noise about the assaults, create a record and a paper trail.
Sheila Wilson R.N.BSN MPH
President & CEO
Stop Healthcare Violence
www.stophealthcareviolence.org
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