Safety in the ER
I have to meet with the state attorney later on this week because I had a patient who assaulted me and got arrested and charged with felony assault.
Thankfully I was not physically injured, but a male patient twice my size overpowered me, shut the door, refused to let me leave, and made suggestive comments. When I attempted to escape, he grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me into the wall.
Donāt be complacent about safety in the workplace, especially when you work in the ER. We see the worst of people at timesā drug addicts, drunks, criminals. Itās easy to think youāre safe in a busy ER with nursing staff and security. But anything can happen at any time.
These things may be common sense, but as a general reminder:
āLeave doors and curtains to exam rooms open unless itās a patient privacy issue. If you have to close them, go in with a nurse or other staff member.
āNever let a patient get between you and the door.
āIf you are evaluating a psych patient, alcohol intoxication, or otherwise altered patient, donāt go in alone, even with the door open.
āHave zero tolerance for verbally aggressive or abusive patients and let them know this behavior will not be tolerated.
āBe aware of a patientās verbal cues and body language.
āMaintain personal space between you and the patient during the interview. Stand to the side. Donāt turn your back to them.
āIf a patient gives you a bad feeling, LISTEN TO YOUR GUT. You can have your security guard or police officer (if you have one on staff) stand outside of the room for any future interactions, or alternatively, I have asked male providers to handle patients who have made me uncomfortable or have threatened me somehow. Donāt be afraid to do this. Sometimes as a woman in the ER I feel like I need to be ātoughā and handle things on my own, but donāt let your pride or ego interfere with your personal safety.
āOn that note, donāt be afraid of āoverreactingā to a potentially dangerous situation with a patient. I should have immediately called for help or hit the code blue button the second this patient shut the door, but for some reason thought I could defuse the situation myself and didnāt want to exaggerate what was happening. But it took all of thirty seconds for the situation to escalate to violence.
āAlways have somebody walk you out to your car, ideally a security guard.
In addition, I found this article on the ACEP website and thought it was very helpful and informative, if you have the time to read it: https://www.acep.org/uploadedFiles/ACEP/Meetings_and_Events/Educational_Meetings/EDDA/Phase_II/17%20Sanson%20-%20ED%20Safety%20and%20Security.pdf
If something ever does happen to you, PLEASE donāt downplay it or rationalize it. Itās crazy sometimes how we have to compartmentalize while working in the ER, and accept things that would never be acceptable in any other job. This incident happened at the beginning of my shift and then I just had to keep on working and pretend like I didnāt just have one of the scariest experiences of my life. And so many of my coworkers said things like, āit sucks, but itās part of the job.ā
In the end, I really had the urge to downplay the situation and considered NOT pursuing any action against this guy because I just wanted the situation to go away, but screw that. Violence against healthcare workers is a legitimate problem and hopefully the actions I take today will prevent this guy from doing something similar in the future.
Take care of yourselves and stay safe, everybody.
Some food for thought if you work in the ED.
I work on a Med/Surg floor, and we have a patient who is a one-on-one, due to behavioral/psych problems, and I get such a horrible feeling in my gut around him. And Iām always afraid of something like this happening, and the aides in our hospital donāt really getĀ āsafetyā training like the nurses do. So I love some of the information you gave here. Totally going to use it some of the tips!Ā
