How many times have you seen your coworkers get assaulted?
How many times have you been assaulted?
How many of you have filled out an incident report after you got assaulted?
How many of you filed a police report on the person that assaulted you?
How many times have you gone to court?
These are questions that are asked all the time, by the organizations that do surveys, by police, by your coworkers.

My question to you if you tell me you have been assaulted , is have you  written out an incident report. Called the police and reported it , gone to court? If you say no my next question is why not?

Most of you know I am a nurse,I am not a politician. I recently spoke to one of REP. Denise Garlicks administrative director . I stated I heard that one of the bills went to study., I am talking about Bills H 795 and # S 765. The bills to change the MA. Law from a. Misdemeanor to a felony for assaulting healthcare workers.
Well the judiciary committee sent bill#795 to study meaning that bill died. But the judiciary committee asked for an extension for bill # 765. Until May2,2018 WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???????
Does anyone have a simple explanation?

I saw on one of the nursing blogs ,that a nurse wrote that he got injured by a patient. It was written because he had, had enough of the assaults. When he was assaulted before he never did much about them. Maybe he was forgiving, maybe didn't have time to write an incident report,I don't really know his reason BUT this assault did him in. He felt enough was enough and wrote out an incident report and even had a court date.
Not much was going on until his court date and low and behold the day of his court date he received word that he was fired! Another person same setting complained about an assault and was told that,"maybe this isn't the place for you"!
I wonder if a patient did to this person, as is done to the healthcare workers would he change his mind? Does he really think it is acceptable to be assaulted?
Do organizations truly believe that we as healthcare workers should accept this treatment! With an attitude like this, and they are the head of an organization? How scary is that!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           


                                        Another day, Another Assault that made the headlines!

Surgeon at the Nassau University Medical Center was arrested for  trying to strangle a nurse with an elastic cord.
According to the police The nurse and surgeon got into a disagreement. The surgeon came up from behind the nurse and wrapped the cord around her neck.
The surgeon left the hospital and the nurse was treated for neck pain.
When the surgeon returned to the hospital later that day ,he was arrested then released on $3500.00 bail. He is due back in court on Feb.26, 2018,
The surgeons lawyer informed the newspaper press "There was no intent in this situation to do any harm to this nurse whatsoever."
 I wonder what he meant by wrapping the cord around her neck. Does anyone have any ideas?

I recently was invited to speak at a local hospital on Health care violence. I was very excited to do this. The more people know about healthcare violence the better!
When I walked into the hospital I could feel the hustle and bustle,lots of energy here. People were friendly and very helpful.
I was escorted to where I was giving the talk and asked ,if I needed help setting up. The room was getting crowded. I like to start on time but this time people were still coming in so I waited for a few minutes. Then I started on my talk. as I was talking I watched the group ,some were shaking their head yes to questions on violence, other questions were a no, I could hear a chuckle from some that made me feel they truly knew what I was talking about. About a quarter or half way though my talk ,I asked this question "Is there anyone here that isn't staff?' ( or something like that) and to my surprise there was two Director of Nurses sitting there. I was so pleased that they would come to hear what I had to say.
I wasn't quite finished with my presentation when I asked if they done any of the action plans I had suggested. This Hospital has done so much to help the staff stay safe. We talked about all the safety plans and how they are always finding new ways to help the staff. THEY WORK TOGETHER!
I could tell this staff and administration worked together to find ways on stopping the violence in their organization.
In many of my articles I always write, Lets work as a team administration and staff. Tonight I heard how this was accomplished by this hospital.It can be done.
Thank You !

I would like to write about one of our success stories,when we first started stophealthcareviolence. the story will show how staff and administration worked together.
We were all tired of the assaults in the ER. So many of us, were spit on, punched, slapped and so many other things happened to us.
When OSHA notified organizations about workplace violence meetings. OSHA stated that the organization  needed to start these meetings,I cant remember if it was weekly,monthly or yearly but I do remember this was what we needed. The first meeting was so full of staff members, ER nurses ,Psych nurses , floor nurses it showed administration it was time to do something. We all listened and hoped this would change things. After the meeting the three of us got together and felt this was the chance to make a change. We were the founders of Stophealthcareviolence and felt this is the opportunity we were waiting for!
WE put together  a power point presentation to show administration the need for a security guard to be in the ER 24/7. Security was always being called when we needed them and they run from one area to the ER. IT was crazy for them. They didn't even know what the call was about ,just come to the ER,a patient is out of control.
A call was put to administration to ask if could we could take 20 minutes from the next meeting to show why we needed the security. The answer was YES we could have the 20 minutes.
The day came and we were quite excited about this presentation. At the end of the presentation we were told administration would think about it! Within a short period of time we had a security guard a couple of evenings ,Friday and Saturday evenings. Before long we had the security guard 24/7 and she/he couldn't be called off the ER floor.
The security guards were the ones that saved us on numerous occasions. We had to learn from each other ,staff wasn't used to having security right there. It is a gift to work with security.
We learned at that administration does listen and is willing to work with us.
Thank You.

Being armed with knowledge ,awareness and information really hasn't harmed anyone. Is this true? Either do something about the issue or maybe stick your head in the sand! These seem to be the choices. Which ever works for you is your choice. But are there consequences if you chose to stick your head in the sand? Of course there is ! it is like those three monkeys blocking their eyes, so they see anything., blocking their ears so they don't hear anything, the last is covering their mouth so they don't say anything. With this choice nothing will change!!!! Is this what we want?
The other choice is arming yourself with knowledge,awareness and information.
This will lead to learning how to recognize, avoid and diffuse potentially violent situations. Do you know the polices in your institution ? How about the laws in your State? The traveling healthcare nurses need to be really informed because every State has different laws.
We all need knowledge to keep safe and keep everyone else safe. Please choose Knowledge,awareness and information. Be safe protect each other !  

January 12,2018

All the news of Elise Wilson the nurse that was stabbed while working in the ER. Alex Wubbels the nurse that was arrested by a police officer for doing her job. Where is the news now?
 As time goes by and our lives get busy we forget the bad things that happen to good people. There are so many of our colleagues that are battling with so much because of the assaults they were received.
The nurse that was giving a IM injection was horrified when the patient took  the syringe out  and stuck her twice with it. I wonder how she is doing.
The nurse that was strangled with her own stethoscope and left her career because of the incident. What is she doing?
How about all the nurses that witnessed the shooting by the prisoner that was able to get the guards gun. The prisoner ,shot one guard ,then was shot by the other guard?
There are so many of our colleagues out there with PTSD. panic attacks and so much more.
Are these nurses just listed as a statistic?
Who keeps track of these nurses that have given and lost so much?
I want to thank each and every one of the healthcare workers that do their job with all the violence that is around them. Being a healthcare worker is dangerous.We need to stop it ,band together ,stop the assaults, don't give excuses for someone that assaults you! Make out those incident reports,call the police,go to court ,let the people that assault you know that you are not allowing this to happen! If we continue to say nothing, nothing will change and could you or someone you care about be the next to be assaulted????? 

  www.stophealthcareviolence.org

It is a felony in 33 States to assault a healthcare worker, but not in Massachusetts. This needs to change. We need your help. Please contact your State legislators urging them to protect Massachusetts Healthcare workers by passing bills H795 and S 765.
Make a lot of noise, let them know how bad it is to work in healthcare with the assaults. Too many of us have been hurt. Too many out on disability, careers ruined.


"The shocking realty of violence in healthcare and what we can do about it." sold in amazon, Barnes and noble.

  Need to know how and why?  Go to link and click under legislation.
 Please help to get this passed. To many of us have been hurt. Please share this, the more we make noise about our assaults, maybe something will be done. 

IF WE DO NOTHING ,NOTHING WILL CHANGE

Thank You!

Jan.9,2018

Sometimes when we get busy with our own life we forget what has happened to our colleagues. This happens. I wonder though what has happened to some of the healthcare workers that emailed me. The ones that I have spoken to face to face,  the ones that shed their tears from the assault,the pain and the frustration. This is one of the healthcare workers story. 

I hadn’t spoken to my colleague for a few months. I was hoping life was better for her.

She was assaulted while working as a Nurse in a busy emergency room by a young man that was there for evaluation of his mental health.

This assault was not her first in the ER but it is the last. I asked how she was doing and she was quick to answer. I am not doing well I am so tired. Since that assault I haven’t felt good, not one day do I feel good.

This man took away my health, he took away the future I had and he took away my financial status.

I live in pain, I can’t sleep .I go to and see my primary care physician, I go to physical therapy, I go to therapy to get over the nightmares of the assault. I am still angry!

Do you know what he is doing?    “ Living his life the way he wants.”

How many healthcare workers are out there saying the same thing? Let me know please!

PLEASE BE Safe, take care of each other!!!!!!!!!! Being in the Healthcare business can be harmful to your health!

It is day 5 of 2018 and already the violence has hit! Can we as healthcare workers become change agents and can we change the culture of our environment?
The answer to this is a definite YES. So how can we do this?
There is a misconception from the top to the bottom that violence is part of the job. We as a whole need to change that. we change this by not accepting this!
There is a story of a nurse being assaulted, no security available her supervisor watched her getting assaulted, and once the patient was taken care of the supervisor told her to finish her shift or she would get fired. REALLY do they have that much control????
There are numerous stories like this.
Under federal law,we are entitled to a safe workplace.Our employer must provide a workplace free of known health and safety hazards.
Why aren't they protecting us? Do we as healthcare workers just accept being assaulted by not writing out incident reports? calling the police? talking among each other?
I have done a lot of speaking engagements and the public hasn't got any idea that we get assaulted! We need to tell them.we need to use our power to let them know.
Please be safe and understand it is not part of your job to be assaulted!!!!!!!
  

Happy New Year to all,
It is the beginning of a new year and one of my hopes is that the bill #795/#765 will get passed.These bills are the same but one is the house bill the other the Senate bill. If it get passed it will change the Ma. Law from a misdemeanor to a felony for assaulting healthcare workers. 33 other states have a felony law for assaulting healthcare workers. Why not Massachusetts?
Did you know that 80% of healthcareworkers get assaulted on the job? Please help us by calling ,emailing or writing your representative and saying you support the bill.
Getting this bill passed is only the tip of the iceberg,we have a lot of work to do to keep our hospitals,and other organizations safe.
Thank you!