We Need to Do Better

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.

A Cup of Scalding Tea

A Brooklyn hospital nurse suffered second-degree burns last month when a patient’s daughter threw scalding tea in her face.

Nineteen-year-old Milldred Alverez attacked the Brooklyn healthcare worker at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where Alvarez’s mother was being treated.

In a June 17, 2016 New York Post article, reporter Sarah Trefethen wrote that Alvarez was “unhappy with the care her mother received.” The attack left the nurse with pain and blisters on her forehead, and Alverez was subsequently charged with felony assault.

The victim developed blisters as a result of the assault, meaning she received a second degree burn.