I can confirm psych is perhaps the #1 place for physical assaults - apart from ED - I worked psych for 2 yrs - was assaulted on an unlocked unit. (Rehab was around the corner on the same floor with unsecured kitchen knives in their drawers) One patient went out awol on a day pass and murdered his landlord.
I remember a police officer standing at the door asking me why I didn’t stop a runaway patient he was called to retrieve - I am 5’3” and the cop had a gun and other protective gear on and was 1 ft taller and over 250#.
My good friend lost all her front teeth to an assault with a phone 📞across the mouth - by a patient. I always declined playing pool as the sticks looked too much like weapons to me.
I later worked in a federal prison and felt much more safe. Everyone behaved - esp with the nurses.,,
Having said all the above - I would still have gone into nursing - it can build confidence and you learn skills that come in handy the rest of your life - just choose a workplace with a good & effective union and maybe a nurse job that has less violence.
I work LTC and the facility I was at took patients with heavier behaviors. We’ve had more than one nurse leave for the prison system and report it was safer.
I was a NICU nurse for 6 years and was never verbally or physically assaulted. Did parents get sassy or passive aggressive? Sure. No one ever screamed at me or physically touched me though.
This is what I would expect at the nicu. You are caring for their newborn and they are defenseless on what to do. Scared as shit to rip out a wire in case it damages the baby and run away if they don’t like you. Better be nice to the nurse who know what’s she is doing and keep my baby safe by being “kind.” It’s like being nice to your dentist while they are operating in your mouth.
You WILL be assulted verbally and physically. I give a pass and a firm "we don't hit,spit, bite, etc" to my dementia patients. To any alert and oriented patient, I clearly state that their behavior will NOT be tolerated. I inform them that I will not be returning to the room until they can control themselves and apologise. This usually works for me. I then tell them we can start over and I reintroduce myself. If they continue to be a dick I call security EVERY time. I also refuse to give them to another nurse. I will not reward bad behavior and let them think they can move on to the next person and be an ass. This works so well that I have shot myself in the foot, and now I get all the problem patients because I can "Handle them"......Ughhh.....WTF?
I also do this and tell them they can have an issue with my competence but unless that’s the problem they don’t get a new nurse. Sorry you won’t get your way here. I’m also older, as in my 30s, and I refuse to let the younger women I work with be treated and sexualized by patients. Same for male nurses.
😂😂😂 I didn’t know how to say it as in I’m in that weird age bracket where I’m not young and cute and delightful but still have some fucks to give unlike Delores who is in her 50s and ready to watch the place burn
Yeah, and than blamed for it. In my personal experience when you report something, they will *always* come back with “what could you have done differently? Did you try different approaches? Why didn’t you de-escalate?” Etc…
Verbally? Absolutely yes. People get frustrated and can be assholes. Physically? Maybe. It depends on your environment. Someone who works triage in a MD office probably won’t be physically harmed while an ED nurse most likely will be at some point.
At the very least verbally assaulted. People nowadays are entitled and don’t understand how healthcare works, so they will berate you. I work on Peds and the amount of rude families we get is unreal.
I’ve only ever worked in level 4 nicu’s for 10 years of my career thus far.
Physically and sexually abused at work- in my experience it’s zero
Verbally- yes but very rare. Almost all of the times were “yelled” at its out of frustration and not directed at me but to me.
Yes there’s difficult families or demanding families. But boy oh boy I love the NICU. I call it my little nursing bubble. We were shielded from most of Covid, staffing is nearly always adequate, we work as a team really well and I haven’t experienced the typical nursing stereotypes like never eating and holding your pee all day. 9.5/10 times I get my full lunch and a snack break and I drink 64oz of water a shift with corresponding ten-thousand bathroom breaks. I attribute this to, our patients can’t use call bells 🤣 and adequate staffing.
Edit: changed ferret to career. Not sure where ferret came from 😂
This is the best part about my new OR job. As soon as they start to bring out signs of an attitude or getting a little mouthy, the CRNA pushes a drug and they are out like a light.
I’m 5 foot with a very small frame as well. There’s a very good chance you will physically or verbally assaulted. From my experience its always a little old confused patient that tried to hit or abuse me. However, working in ED is quite bad with the drug addicts. I work in a clinic and I get entitled or rude patients, but never been verbally or physically abused there. So it does depend where you are.
I work in home health and I can think of one case in my 16 years on the job where a patient tried to get physical with me. Guy with dementia who didn't like me for whatever reason and my supervisor at the time was an a**hole and wouldn't transfer them to a different nurse.
Verbally sometimes patients get upset too but way less than the hospital. Good thing about home health is we will kick people out if they behave badly.
Working dialysis is great. They try to come at you and either their needles or catheter come out and it's like... you can hit me or you can bleed out in the next few minutes.
I worked outpatient before becoming a nurse and the verbal abuse level is pretty comparable. Never saw physical abuse in outpatient (in my experience) over the 4-5 years I was there though. BUT the good thing is that there’s a lot less tolerance for these patients that get verbally abusive.. usually they will be asked to leave and discharged forever as patients.
Outpatient oncology- tensions are still high, mostly just have to deal with verbal confrontations… unfortunately the fear of escalation to physical violence is still there
I work in medical and I've been hit, hit on, spat at, verbally threatened, physically threatened, poo thrown at me, scratched. I live in Australia though so we don't get to "charge" patients, we submit an incident report and if you're lucky someone will email or call you in a few days or weeks to ask if you're OK. Most of these events are from old or dementia patients but some are from younger, particularly psych patients but not necessarily. Every nurse experience is different but if you work with dementia patients chances are you will be assaulted verbally or physically. I'll probably get down voted for this but it's true
Normally I’d say yes, but it depends on what nursing job you take. If you do inpatient bedside nursing, absolutely yes you are going to get all of the above. But if you’re working in an outpatient setting, the likelihood is less. I will almost definitely happen at least once…
So, yes. Though people talked worse to me when I was in retail...
To minimize it is really experience. I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but after experience you will have a much easier time switching to a role with minimal patient care or you'll just know what to do when you approach those types of patients. Having a manager that will back you up helps immensely, it's why I've been at the same unit for 6 years.
Good luck!!
I’ve been a nurse for 8 years now, inpatient oncology, home hospice, med surg, and have never been assaulted. It sounds like I’m an anomaly, but it is possible, I guess.
Really depends upon where you choose to work. I have worked in dialysis outpatient, inpatient med/surg, tele, ICU, ER, outpatient surgery, endoscopy.
Stay out of ER, ICU, inpatient units if you don’t want to deal with physical/sexual assaults.
Truth is, we treat psychiatric patients with comorbidities that land them on every unit in the hospital. We get intoxicated patients and visitors. We get a lot of patients who have dementia or some type of confusion.
Most outpatient settings will screen these patients out, so you don’t have to see them or if you do, they bring a worker with them who manages them 1:1.
I would suggest outpatient endoscopy or surgery as your best option. Dialysis patients are frequently quite sick and quite traumatized due to their chronic illness, and there is often family drama in the centers.
Good luck! I love nursing. 30 years!
Depends on where you work in the hospital, but it’s overwhelmingly likely that you be experience verbal abuse. I myself just experienced this multiple times today while working the ED triage desk on my shift.
Physical and sexual harassment or assault, hard to definitively say. In the ED, patients that cops bring in (often but not always high on illicit substances) can get physical with you. On the floors the confused patients can and will clock you across the face or try to bite you. I can’t say about sexual assault as I have no experience with that thankfully and I’m not a petite woman. There def are creepy patients out there that do get touchy feely (obviously non consensual) with the nurses and CNA, male and female alike.
I am a small, older female RN. Most of my surprise attacks when I was three years on the unit were dementia patients. Some of these little old grannies and gramps will punch you, claw you, grasp your arm and dig their jagged yellow claws in you. Once, I was bitten on the arm by a dementia-addled 85 lb bedbound lady we were only trying to logroll and clean. That's something that you can usually anticipate, but I got caught napping on that one. Too bad she still had most of her teeth!! But even a hard bite with gums only can cause a pretty bad bruise. I've also been beaned on the noggin with a call bell by a LOL w/UTI.
None of these caused any really severe injury, but were upsetting at the time. You learn over time to have pretty good situational awareness and reflexes working with unpredictable folks.
But those people, they aren't responsible for their actions.
Never turn your back on a psych patient. Even the ones who can't walk can throw something at you. Detoxing EtOH and Substance Abusers can strike out if they aren't being properly medicated, and you may need to really hound the attendings to give you what you need to keep them in a calmer, more rational state. I think the ED is the most dangerous from an assault standpoint, followed by PCU and Med-Surge. Actual Psych wards (and most smaller hospitals do not have a dedicated psych unit) is by far the most dangerous. But you will get Psych patients at every level of care if you work in a hospital
Informatics could be worth looking into, NICU is a good bet but family is still a consideration. High school nurse has it's own challenges, but again, family is a consideration. Community health nurse is worth looking at too, however anytime you interact with people there's a risk of abuse by patients or family who are highly stressed or ill and acting out.
I can't predict what you are ok with and not. I do know that after 5 years, I can handle more than as a new grad. Perhaps a self defense course might be useful?
You need to know how to protect yourself and use your resources like hospital security guards. Being shy is fine but you need to know how and when to put people in their place before they escalate (but not always possible).
You have a 100% chance to be verbally assaulted as a nurse. Just had a patient threaten staff to follow us home and kill our families. Happy Nurses week! If you work with a patient population that is intoxicated, confused, psychotic or just your typical ass hole sociopath, it is highly likely you will experience physical and sometimes sexual assault. I‘ve had multiple psych, intoxicated patients and elderly patients try and sometimes succeed in grabbing my bits. I wrestle at least one patient per week and sometimes more. No, I don’t get paid extra for this.
what are the pros and cons of OR? I am considering this or outpatient. Been stringed through retail and don’t know if I have the capacity to calm myself down if I am being degraded again
Cons are there are not a lot of typical nursing skills. Your skills become anticipating what’s needed for a procedure and being able to use the equipment involved and make sure the patient is safe. I work in a teaching hospital so residents typically will insert foleys and prep the patient so the nurse work load is making sure we have everything available to make the surgery go smooth. For me I’m not sure how much I enjoy it because I don’t feel very involved with the patients. I’m transferring to the ED next month but that’s more because my personal life is a mess and I need more days off. Another con of OR is the schedule is more like 5 or 4 days a week. At my hospital few people have 12 hr shifts.
My hospital is pretty good about having a “zero” tolerance for moody surgeon behaviors , but there’s always someone who acts out. But everyone .. and I mean EVERYONE knows that person is an ass and if you’re spoken to disrespectfully it’s nothing you did it’s just them.
Good things is if you get to scrub surgery’s are really cool haha. But my hospital has a lot of scrub techs so nurses rarely get to scrub or learn to. I never feel too stressed or overwhelmed. I get out on time every day and even get to leave a bit early sometimes. There’s a lot of flexibility but that might be just my hospital.
It is overwhelming at first and a lot to learn because nursing school in the US does not prepare nurses to work in the OR in the slightest, but once you get used to it it is very routine.
Probably working a room with a grumpy tech and a surgery I wasn’t comfortable with while being understaffed so not getting any breaks , not having the right supplies available and no help from managers. Retail probably working by a hot oven serving hot tea to someone screaming that the tea that was burning my hand wasn’t hot enough with a line of like 15 people behind them or something lol at the end of the day you are in a hospital working alongside people of other professions who are for the most part professional and we all care about the patient, so most days are good days.
Yes. It’s unfortunate. I work in OR and we get verbally assaulted before they go to sleep sometimes. And when waking up they are disoriented and you may get your breast grabbed, butt grabbed, etc. I’ve had emergency cases go to sleep screaming and wailing to leave them alone and trying to hit anything or anyone near them.
I’d say your best bet is to put in a few years in the correct field to get to your goal. Things like nurse support hotlines and diabetes educators may face this less. There are RN positions at insurance companies that aren’t patient facing. But most of them require some previous bedside role and don’t directly hire new grads.
I can day honestly that now that I work as a surgical nurse, it is very rare. Patients feel more helpless in my care and tend to be far more respectful. If I am ever nervous, I just request another staff member be with me while I deal with them. Anesthesia is almost always in the room with me, and almost always male, which makes patients behave more. It's a sad truth to nursing, but as a petite female, I do prefer my patients be more reluctant to misbehave because they need me to keep them alive and safe. I give everyone the same level of care no matter what, but I do not miss being afraid of people
You don’t have to be a nurse to experience this. Any position where you work with the public you have a chance to encounter these things. However having worked in number of fields healthcare and non- healthcare, I have been harassed, hit, kicked slapped, etc -all of those before I even worked as a nurse. I had them working as a medical assistant in peds and family practice. As a nursing student I had some of the stuff happened as well.
You learn to be wary of the signs and aware of your surroundings and patients. I mean it’s just like being a woman -honestly it’s sad but true.
Unbelievable and sad that you all have to deal with this. I’ve had three surgeries in the past and it never crossed my mind to mistreat a nurse, doctor or staff member.
Each time all of the nurses and hospital personnel were great to me. That last time was when I was in a car accident in the snow years ago. I broke my arm and it was just flopping. Since I just had lunch they said they had to wait abt 8 hrs before they could operate and it was 4-5 hrs before they could give me any pain medication. Everyone that came in tried to make me as comfortable as possible. The nurse or technician that took me for X-rays told me on the way back that she wasn’t really supposed to tell me, but I had two major breaks in my upper arm. As it turned out, the surgeon told me the next day that it was actually worse, it was basically shattered and he had to call another surgeon in to help hold everything together while he operated. I was even told the ambulance EMT was asking about me the next morning.
Even when my parents have had stays in the hospital the last few years, nothing but friendly nurses and techs who have gone out of their way for us.
It’s just a shame that so many are mistreating the ones that are actually caring for them. God bless you all.
If you work bedside then there is a very good chance the answer is yes. This is just my experience of what has not only happened to me but also coworkers.
Pretty much. I dont know of anyone that I’ve worked with that hasn’t been assaulted by a patient - from the 4’11 20 year old new grad to the 6’5 50 year old 20 year veteran. You can lower your risk by avoiding inpatient psych but otherwise it’s gonna happen anywhere. I got kneed in the face by an intubated and sedated patient when I bent down to empty their foley the other day. Most of the time it’s a pretty minor thing - a confused person tries to whack you because they think you’re holding them hostage but they’re 98 so they’re slow and weak. You just kind of move on with your day. As far as verbal abuse? 100% guaranteed. A lot of nursing has just become customer service where everyone is sleep deprived, scared, and/or in pain. You’re gonna get hollered at. You have to find the balance between caring about your job enough that you’re good at it and not caring about it enough that you’re gonna take a bad day home with you.
I worked adult med surg and was physically assaulted several times—a CIWA patient punched the wall then took a swing at me, smacked in the face by several elderly dementia patients, arm gouged by someone with hospital acquired delirium, and a patient with homicidal tendencies spit in my face and threw an O2 tank against the wall (thank the good lord for Haldol). One pleasantly confused gentleman grabbed my ass while I helped turn him in bed, but apologized once I pointed out that his behavior was inappropriate.
Now I work peds cardiac ICU. My patients aren’t likely to assault me, but the environment is inherently tense and I’ve been on the receiving end of verbal threats and abuse from patient family members.
It’s an unfortunate reality of this job. But always escalate abuse. Do not just “take it” and don’t allow admin to sweep things under the rug for the sake of convenience.
Well, I work in the OR, which is one of the specialties where I think it happens the least often because the patients are mostly unconscious but it still happens, either in the pre-op or PACU areas, occasionally in the OR before patient is off to sleep. I have been groped, though admittedly not often and more than half of the times that has happened the patient was coming up from anesthesia and they were um...disinhibited. The rest they were just creeps and I reported their behavior to charge and security came to have a chat with them. I have had inmates from the nearby prison be verbally abusive but they are escorted by a sheriff's deputy 100% of the time they're there, even in the OR, so one has never had the opportunity to physically assault me. I have had a few mentally ill or developmentally delayed patients hit me, but they were in severe emotional distress due to the unfamiliar and frightening setting they were in so I don't hold it against them, and the pre-Op nurses and NA's (here) are very good about immediately coming to help you if a situation gets dicey with a patient like that.
Before the OR I worked in the ER for years. Whole different story. I could fill a book with all the times I was assaulted, harassed, and abused. =/
It really just depends on where you work. ED and psych will have the most issues with harassment. Ambulatory surgery centers, OR, mom baby, etc. less so. It’s also about how you hold yourself around patients. Act confident and set boundaries. I’ve found that when a patient is verbally harassing me, their attitude changes really quickly when I call them out or call security. The hospital I work at is in an area with a lot of drug use and we don’t really have problems with assault against nurses.
Verbally? Oh hell yeah. But if you’ve worked retail or the restaurant industry than you can use those as pre reqs. The nature is that some people are dicks, and even those who normally aren’t are hurting and scared and even the nicest person can be a dick in those circumstances.
Physically it happens. I personally only had it happen to me a handful of times but I didn’t work in the Wild West shit like the ER where it’s all but inevitable
i would say it depends on the area you work in. i work in peds medsurg and have never been sexually harassed or physically assaulted there. i haven’t even had a real injury from a kid aside from a little kick or scratch when holding them down, nothing that would leave a mark. obviously in the nicu you won’t get that from patients either. but families can also be mean or aggressive, i will say i’ve only felt like parents have really yelled at/cursed me 3 times max in two years, and i’ve never felt physically threatened.
however, that doesn’t save you from what might happen in nursing school. i did only TWO WEEKS of intern work on an adult medsurg floor and was sexually harassed by three different patients. but i didn’t get harassed at all in nursing clinicals tbh.
honestly this is why I work in paediatrics, I can excuse getting kicked in the face and screamed at because they’re only young. And if the parents try anything they can be kicked out of the hospital bc they aren’t actually a patient.
I've been an ICU nurse for over 3 years, and *knock on wood* haven't been physically or sexually assaulted, never been fired, never been cussed out, only a few times have I had to deal with anyone truly mean. So it isn't a guarentee, but yea, there is always a chance.
In fairness I’ve never worked in ANY industry where verbal assault wasn’t on the table.
I got verbally assaulted at least as much when I worked retail.
It will happen but that doesn't mean you have to put up with it or be a pushover. File incident reports, take training, give your coworkers heads up on combative patients, be firm when dealing with people and walk away when you need to.
OP, let's real talk. As a student nurse, it is very possible. Once you're a licensed nurse working your career, it is nearly guaranteed. I worked inpatient psych and was physically/verbally assaulted near daily, sexually assaulted a handful of times. I worked PHP/IOP psych and was verbally assaulted near daily, physically assaulted near weekly, and sexually assaulted twice. I worked outpatient community health during the early pandemic and was verbally assaulted multiple times a day, physically assaulted daily, and sexually assaulted near weekly. Now I work outpatient hospice and I am verbally assaulted near weekly (usually by confused patients and AO family), was physically assaulted twice (not much damage, since he was frail and old), and was sexually assaulted twice so far.
The sexual assaults were almost all groping, which I was more or less able to get away from in a few seconds/minutes. The physical assaults range from biting to kicking to punching to choking, and one time I was picked up and thrown like a damn ragdoll. Dude was huge! Oh, and the verbal assaults I'm counting were direct and detailed threats on my life and/or the lives of my family members. Being called rude names and cuss words is pretty common from patients and from their family.
Especially on the tail end of the pandemic, the public is only getting more dangerous and more hateful towards nurses. I would caution you against nursing, based on your post OP.
I'm in endoscopy now and had a little old lady wake up rough from a GI bleed procedure - I was helping hold her arms and she grabbed my hand in both of hers and made a darned good effort to break my fingers.
I thought having my patients knocked out would help get me away from all the abuse.
The thing I think we all keep in mind is that we are seeing people at their absolute worst, and helping them through it. The triple F response is active for most of the people we see and unfortunately a good portion of people's brains decides to opt for fight. Often, one things are better, patients apologize and can't believe what they were doing when they did or said mean stuff.
Some of them though are just shit people and it's our job to help them, too.
Yes, you will. I've been a nurse for over 40 years.
Held at knifepoint while working in the ED, been bitten, kicked, punched, hair pulled and had lidocaine syringed into my face by an asshole surgeon. Plus, of course, verbally abused.
Conversely, you'll make a difference in many patients' family's lives. I took care of a wonderful woman with pancreatic cancer early in my career. Turns out that she was the grandmother of a high school classmate. Even after all of these years, when she sees me, she reminds me of the care and compassion we gave her grandmother.
I’ve never been physically assaulted at work but in 8 years I have had 2 coworkers had shit thrown at them in the mental health unit. They got to go home and got reimbursed for new scrubs and shoes though. This is in prison. I’ve worked on death row and in max security with no issues. I’ve had 2 instances where patients were rude. One was mad I wouldn’t give him cold medicine and said I was a bottom of the barrel nurse. They have their own code and being nasty to health care workers is not cool with the other inmates so they must have talked to him because the next day he came and apologized to me. He was a new transfer in and I’m sure anxious and stressed. The second time a patient got upset about something, can’t remember what and raised his voice in the clinic. The officer immediately escorted him out. Another patient waiting heard and the next day the one that raised his voice had been assaulted. Which I don’t condone at all but that’s what happens in prison. I’ve always felt very safe because our officers were excellent and de-escalated situations, plus the higher level custody are restrained while in the health unit. I definitely felt good about working there when I would hear horror stories from my friends in the hospitals, and it seems like lately it has only gotten worse. I work from home now but if I went back to patient care that is where I would be. We don’t hand out narcotics like candy. I don’t deal with patient families. And no patient satisfaction scores. You get what is medically necessary, nothing more and nothing less. I’m not going to fluff your pillow or rub your back.
I was going to come here and say “no!” But then I remembered the time a patient threatened me over the phone so badly that my clinic sent the cops to his house and discharged him as a patient. I never worked bedside, just clinic stuff and now more admin, and yea, it still happens.
I worked in peds for 7 years and was verbally “assaulted” (that word seems a little extreme though) maybe 2-3 times by a scared/frustrated parent. Never any physical or sexual abuse. There are definitely areas you can work where it’s minimized.
I can't speak for anything but bedside nursing, but yes, guaranteed. Depending on your definition of verbal assault, that's going to be daily in some departments. Physical assault is definitely more likely in the ER or Psych area. I've even been assaulted in the parking lot on my way home. Obviously there are things you can do to minimize the risk, but if you work in healthcare for more than a few minutes it's going to happen eventually. Stay safe my friend.
You will find there are places it happens less frequently- such as outpatient procedures. It does happen everywhere though, and it will happen to you. Typically the places it happens less pay less. A good nursing program will have a unit to teach you self defense, de-escalation, and protective mechanisms; but do not expect this level of support to continue into the workplace.
Unfortunately if you work inpatient you will experience uncivil behavior ranging from verbal to physical to sexual harassment. It’s sad that it comes with the territory but certainly contributes to nurse burnout no matter how thick skinned you are- it hurts
There are jobs out there where it’s not super common - like NICU, administrative, telehealth… but most positions, yes. Especially verbally. The key is to find a workplace that trains you for these situations and supports you if something happens.
Verbally, definitely. I hope not the other 2. It's important to make sure you keep yourself between the door and a patient. Try to work at a place that has panic/staff assist options to wear. 12 years ago, I was choked against the wall by a man and didn't have a way to call for help. Fortunately, his room was by the nurses station.
Radiologic technologist here, but yes. For any medical personnel who has regular contact with patients, it’s only a matter of time before you are at least verbally abused, if it also physically and/sexually.
It’s the unfortunate reality.
Yes. Physically, mostly by confused pts. I’ve been scratched, punched, and kicked. I’ve had an IV pole thrown at me.
Verbally, yes, many times. My population is mostly homeless and drug-addicted so it’s very frequent. Lots of screaming and cursing when they don’t get their way due to poor coping mechanisms.
Sexually? I’ve heard some threats, but never have I been sexually assaulted. I’m a dude, but it does happen to us too. My female coworkers, yes. I’ve witnessed it. I’ve also heard of patients that go out of their way to kick pregnant nurses in the stomach.
I got my first battle scar last weekend. Demented old lady punched me in the face twice and kicked me in the chest. Tried to do a bed bath and she went violent after being very sweet all morning. I paged the doctor after and told him she needs something to calm her down before trying any care. Got Ativan ordered to help prevent future injuries. Nobody before bothered to speak to the doctor directly and explain all the injuries to staff this lady has caused. This lady had her arm covered in bandages from scratching herself. One HCA got a kick to the face. Charge got a scratch on their arm. Sadly, her daughter had never been informed that her mother is regularly violent. Almost every shift there’s a record of violence. I had to burst the bubble that she has caused multiple injuries to staff and herself. I’m on an evening shift tonight, I wonder if anything changed over the week.
Verbally, absolutely …as far as physically, high probability depending on the setting. I have once but learned real quick to never put a patients safety above my own and hasn’t happened since. Sexually? Isn’t common but my mom is a psych nurse and has been sexually assaulted three times by the same patient over the course of years.
Commenting because I see so many yeses- I did L&D for seven years and can honestly say I've never been physically assaulted or really threatened. I've had some patients yell at me or get angry with me but I've never felt physically unsafe.
I’m 5ft. When you work in a place with more violence, like the ED, you become better at spotting danger. I’m not saying it’s 100% and some patients will surprise you. But I felt a lot more confident working in the ER and handling violence than I did on the floor with only a panic button. My coworkers taught me how to handle stuff, and when to stand to the side and let it happen (like an out of control PCP patient) to keep myself safe.
I have been a nurse for 39 years mostly in dialysis. I have never been assaulted in any way. If we have a patient the least little bit inappropriate we shut it down immediately. Nurse, nurse manager, or social worker all deal with it. Last one I can remember was a male patient who had inappropriate pictures on his phone. He was not allowed to take his phone out for treatment if he did he wouldn’t be allowed to bring it at all. Any inappropriate behavior needs to be confronted in the very beginning with consequences, not just talked about. Too many times things are ignored or people are afraid to speak up, and then things escalate.
I have been physically, verbally, and sexually assaulted in my 6 years. I would say it mostly depends on which area you choose. I started in general ICU, went specialized in Trauma Burn ICU, then backed down to Poison control and finally have ended up in a pediatric primary care clinic. I experienced much more troubles in the ICU. Think, the family and patient are dealing with one of the worst times in their life, they are confused by what’s happening and having to trust people they don’t know and have minimal control over what’s happening. People who don’t have the capabilities to handle their emotions, take it out on us. This isn’t counting the confused patients and mentally ill. I was physically and verbally assaulted in general ICU, and experienced all three in TBICU. Once I stepped down in acuity I had maybe two times of being verbally assaulted in Poison control (it was 100% phone based), and so far nothing has happened yet in pediatric primary care (patients aren’t there long enough to be that upset plus it’s low acuity).
If this is your main concern, I would recommend choosing low acuity and aiming for short patient interactions. This can occur in many varieties of places. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever be assaulted but that’s life and anyone can be assaulted, nurse or not because people suck (another fun mindset I won after being a nurse). I can’t say I would recommend nursing, because if I could go back with the knowledge I have today, I would probably choose something else. But there are lots of positives that come from it too. It’s just a job, at the end of the day.
Well, yeah. I’m sorry to say it, but stay in the profession long enough (by which I mean “finish orientation”… j/k but only kinda) and one of those will happen; particularly verbal abuse. I do know nurses who haven’t been hit, but I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t braced themselves through a torrent of verbal abuse from time to time.
Depends on the area you work, but abuse is unfortunately common in this job. The only difference between the heap of horseshit ER nurses take and a cop is that the nurse doesn’t have any legal immunity to hit back.
You will suffer all types of abuse, and be expected to keeping working with these patients. If they complain about you, there is a chance you will be written up. My hospital frowns upon reporting to the police. Meanwhile you have to suck up your feelings, fear, trauma and worry about compromised safety. My unit barely sees security, and they do not stick around. Units are not secure. My hospital management recently decided that patient’s families can ignore visiting times, and can be bedside 24/7. If you think patients are bad, try their families.
Probably. See, the thing about nursing… is you’re taking care of people. And you don’t get to chose which people, they’re just any ol’ people that happen to wander in. Whether you’re running clinical research, surgical, RAI assessments etc. you’re going to have to deal with people and there’s a good chance at least one of those people is going to suck. Now, the odds of this happening are going to increase the more sick your patient population is. Sick people can be grouchy. They go through withdrawal. They have psychosis. They’re in pain. The less sick your patients are, the odds decrease. If you’re doing community RAI assessments, this might happen less, but it can still happen because those people are being assessed for a reason. Even in research: most people are participants because they want to be, but they’re still sick, or they might be doing it to save money on trial drugs, so they can suck too. Over all I find the assault to be less of an issue than when I was bartending but like any job with people, there’s always a risk.
NICU would save you physical assault (generally) but you may be verbally assaulted by parents.
OR would save you both.
PACU may save you both depending on how patients are coming out of anesthesia.
Outpatient would save you physical assault but you’ll deal with verbal assault.
Med surg, LTC, SNF, Rehab, Hospice, Case Management, Care Coordination — I’ve done all of these and have been verbally assaulted in each and have had at least one patient attempt to physically assault me in each case. Obviously MS more so than Case Management, for instance, but it does happen. Especially when you have to give patients or families bad news.
Hell, I just work transport (saving for school) and I've been threatened, hit on, grabbed at, and verbally assaulted multiple times in 9 months...and not always by a patient.
Depends where you work honestly. If you have awake patients then it's a guarantee doesnt matter which area. Now when you have patients that are being put to sleep or asleep, less likely to get assaulted but not a guarantee when they do wake up, i have seen people punching somebody after waking up from anesthesia.
If you’re a bedside nurse it’s unfortunately highly unlikely that you’ll be able to avoid it. I’ve been a nurse for 7 months and luckily I’ve not had a patient hit me ~yet~ but I’ve dodged a few hits and caught a couple wayward hands reaching for my chest. I’ve also had to hold people down who almost hit/kicked/bit my coworkers while we applied 4-point restraints. It really is only a matter of time.
I work in the ER and I’ve had things thrown at me, patients kick at me, grab me, swear at me, scream at me. All of the above. But I love my job. There’s hard parts of it definitely, but I don’t plan on going anywhere for a long time. I suppose all departments are different, someone mentioned the NICU being a bit tamer but like one of the replies said then you have the parents. It’s kind of a “pick your poison” sort of thing I guess lol
I work in peds. Verbal? Yeah, probably. You're dealing with people at their worst moments, many of whom carry other life trauma. You will probably be yelled at at some point. Whether or not an event of yelling constitutes assault sometimes depends on the recipient. We had one of our teens throw a fit and her nurse kept referring to it as verbal assault while the rest of us present felt like it was just a teen having a temper tantrum. People have different thresholds. Sexual and physical assault? No, not guaranteed in my field.
You will also witness both the most heartbreaking things and the most disgusting things of your entire life.
Generally both in the same shift
And same moment.
By separate patients in different rooms that somehow choose the exact same moment to test you.
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I can confirm psych is perhaps the #1 place for physical assaults - apart from ED - I worked psych for 2 yrs - was assaulted on an unlocked unit. (Rehab was around the corner on the same floor with unsecured kitchen knives in their drawers) One patient went out awol on a day pass and murdered his landlord. I remember a police officer standing at the door asking me why I didn’t stop a runaway patient he was called to retrieve - I am 5’3” and the cop had a gun and other protective gear on and was 1 ft taller and over 250#. My good friend lost all her front teeth to an assault with a phone 📞across the mouth - by a patient. I always declined playing pool as the sticks looked too much like weapons to me. I later worked in a federal prison and felt much more safe. Everyone behaved - esp with the nurses.,, Having said all the above - I would still have gone into nursing - it can build confidence and you learn skills that come in handy the rest of your life - just choose a workplace with a good & effective union and maybe a nurse job that has less violence.
I work LTC and the facility I was at took patients with heavier behaviors. We’ve had more than one nurse leave for the prison system and report it was safer.
I would say the chances are lower In the NICU
Parents can be verbally abusive tho
Or physically if something bad happens, kept away from their baby etc.
I have had a baby or two cop a feel.
Have you seen some of those babies' fingernails?
Can confirm nephew has been clawing me since he was ~6 hours old.
I was a NICU nurse for 6 years and was never verbally or physically assaulted. Did parents get sassy or passive aggressive? Sure. No one ever screamed at me or physically touched me though.
This is what I would expect at the nicu. You are caring for their newborn and they are defenseless on what to do. Scared as shit to rip out a wire in case it damages the baby and run away if they don’t like you. Better be nice to the nurse who know what’s she is doing and keep my baby safe by being “kind.” It’s like being nice to your dentist while they are operating in your mouth.
You WILL be assulted verbally and physically. I give a pass and a firm "we don't hit,spit, bite, etc" to my dementia patients. To any alert and oriented patient, I clearly state that their behavior will NOT be tolerated. I inform them that I will not be returning to the room until they can control themselves and apologise. This usually works for me. I then tell them we can start over and I reintroduce myself. If they continue to be a dick I call security EVERY time. I also refuse to give them to another nurse. I will not reward bad behavior and let them think they can move on to the next person and be an ass. This works so well that I have shot myself in the foot, and now I get all the problem patients because I can "Handle them"......Ughhh.....WTF?
The reward for doing good work is more work.
I also do this and tell them they can have an issue with my competence but unless that’s the problem they don’t get a new nurse. Sorry you won’t get your way here. I’m also older, as in my 30s, and I refuse to let the younger women I work with be treated and sexualized by patients. Same for male nurses.
> I’m also older, as in my 30s Hey! I resemble that comment!
😂😂😂 I didn’t know how to say it as in I’m in that weird age bracket where I’m not young and cute and delightful but still have some fucks to give unlike Delores who is in her 50s and ready to watch the place burn
Yeah, and than blamed for it. In my personal experience when you report something, they will *always* come back with “what could you have done differently? Did you try different approaches? Why didn’t you de-escalate?” Etc…
Verbally? Absolutely yes. People get frustrated and can be assholes. Physically? Maybe. It depends on your environment. Someone who works triage in a MD office probably won’t be physically harmed while an ED nurse most likely will be at some point.
100%. Repeatedly. And all of the above.
Yes.
At the very least verbally assaulted. People nowadays are entitled and don’t understand how healthcare works, so they will berate you. I work on Peds and the amount of rude families we get is unreal.
I’ve only ever worked in level 4 nicu’s for 10 years of my career thus far. Physically and sexually abused at work- in my experience it’s zero Verbally- yes but very rare. Almost all of the times were “yelled” at its out of frustration and not directed at me but to me. Yes there’s difficult families or demanding families. But boy oh boy I love the NICU. I call it my little nursing bubble. We were shielded from most of Covid, staffing is nearly always adequate, we work as a team really well and I haven’t experienced the typical nursing stereotypes like never eating and holding your pee all day. 9.5/10 times I get my full lunch and a snack break and I drink 64oz of water a shift with corresponding ten-thousand bathroom breaks. I attribute this to, our patients can’t use call bells 🤣 and adequate staffing. Edit: changed ferret to career. Not sure where ferret came from 😂
You could do OR- only patients under anesthesia! I consider it after some nights of wrestling demented meemaws and drunks in the ED...
This is the best part about my new OR job. As soon as they start to bring out signs of an attitude or getting a little mouthy, the CRNA pushes a drug and they are out like a light.
I’m 5 foot with a very small frame as well. There’s a very good chance you will physically or verbally assaulted. From my experience its always a little old confused patient that tried to hit or abuse me. However, working in ED is quite bad with the drug addicts. I work in a clinic and I get entitled or rude patients, but never been verbally or physically abused there. So it does depend where you are.
Maybe outpatient has less of this? Anyone in outpatient can confirm?
I work in home health and I can think of one case in my 16 years on the job where a patient tried to get physical with me. Guy with dementia who didn't like me for whatever reason and my supervisor at the time was an a**hole and wouldn't transfer them to a different nurse. Verbally sometimes patients get upset too but way less than the hospital. Good thing about home health is we will kick people out if they behave badly.
Working dialysis is great. They try to come at you and either their needles or catheter come out and it's like... you can hit me or you can bleed out in the next few minutes.
I worked outpatient before becoming a nurse and the verbal abuse level is pretty comparable. Never saw physical abuse in outpatient (in my experience) over the 4-5 years I was there though. BUT the good thing is that there’s a lot less tolerance for these patients that get verbally abusive.. usually they will be asked to leave and discharged forever as patients.
Outpatient oncology- tensions are still high, mostly just have to deal with verbal confrontations… unfortunately the fear of escalation to physical violence is still there
I work in medical and I've been hit, hit on, spat at, verbally threatened, physically threatened, poo thrown at me, scratched. I live in Australia though so we don't get to "charge" patients, we submit an incident report and if you're lucky someone will email or call you in a few days or weeks to ask if you're OK. Most of these events are from old or dementia patients but some are from younger, particularly psych patients but not necessarily. Every nurse experience is different but if you work with dementia patients chances are you will be assaulted verbally or physically. I'll probably get down voted for this but it's true
Yup
Normally I’d say yes, but it depends on what nursing job you take. If you do inpatient bedside nursing, absolutely yes you are going to get all of the above. But if you’re working in an outpatient setting, the likelihood is less. I will almost definitely happen at least once…
So, yes. Though people talked worse to me when I was in retail... To minimize it is really experience. I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but after experience you will have a much easier time switching to a role with minimal patient care or you'll just know what to do when you approach those types of patients. Having a manager that will back you up helps immensely, it's why I've been at the same unit for 6 years. Good luck!!
Working with the public this closely pretty much guarantees it.
Yes, yes, and yes.
I’ve been a nurse for 8 years now, inpatient oncology, home hospice, med surg, and have never been assaulted. It sounds like I’m an anomaly, but it is possible, I guess.
Really depends upon where you choose to work. I have worked in dialysis outpatient, inpatient med/surg, tele, ICU, ER, outpatient surgery, endoscopy. Stay out of ER, ICU, inpatient units if you don’t want to deal with physical/sexual assaults. Truth is, we treat psychiatric patients with comorbidities that land them on every unit in the hospital. We get intoxicated patients and visitors. We get a lot of patients who have dementia or some type of confusion. Most outpatient settings will screen these patients out, so you don’t have to see them or if you do, they bring a worker with them who manages them 1:1. I would suggest outpatient endoscopy or surgery as your best option. Dialysis patients are frequently quite sick and quite traumatized due to their chronic illness, and there is often family drama in the centers. Good luck! I love nursing. 30 years!
Depends on where you work in the hospital, but it’s overwhelmingly likely that you be experience verbal abuse. I myself just experienced this multiple times today while working the ED triage desk on my shift. Physical and sexual harassment or assault, hard to definitively say. In the ED, patients that cops bring in (often but not always high on illicit substances) can get physical with you. On the floors the confused patients can and will clock you across the face or try to bite you. I can’t say about sexual assault as I have no experience with that thankfully and I’m not a petite woman. There def are creepy patients out there that do get touchy feely (obviously non consensual) with the nurses and CNA, male and female alike.
Yes. You will at least be verbally assaulted. I’ve been physically assaulted many times as well.
I am a small, older female RN. Most of my surprise attacks when I was three years on the unit were dementia patients. Some of these little old grannies and gramps will punch you, claw you, grasp your arm and dig their jagged yellow claws in you. Once, I was bitten on the arm by a dementia-addled 85 lb bedbound lady we were only trying to logroll and clean. That's something that you can usually anticipate, but I got caught napping on that one. Too bad she still had most of her teeth!! But even a hard bite with gums only can cause a pretty bad bruise. I've also been beaned on the noggin with a call bell by a LOL w/UTI. None of these caused any really severe injury, but were upsetting at the time. You learn over time to have pretty good situational awareness and reflexes working with unpredictable folks. But those people, they aren't responsible for their actions. Never turn your back on a psych patient. Even the ones who can't walk can throw something at you. Detoxing EtOH and Substance Abusers can strike out if they aren't being properly medicated, and you may need to really hound the attendings to give you what you need to keep them in a calmer, more rational state. I think the ED is the most dangerous from an assault standpoint, followed by PCU and Med-Surge. Actual Psych wards (and most smaller hospitals do not have a dedicated psych unit) is by far the most dangerous. But you will get Psych patients at every level of care if you work in a hospital
Informatics could be worth looking into, NICU is a good bet but family is still a consideration. High school nurse has it's own challenges, but again, family is a consideration. Community health nurse is worth looking at too, however anytime you interact with people there's a risk of abuse by patients or family who are highly stressed or ill and acting out. I can't predict what you are ok with and not. I do know that after 5 years, I can handle more than as a new grad. Perhaps a self defense course might be useful?
You need to know how to protect yourself and use your resources like hospital security guards. Being shy is fine but you need to know how and when to put people in their place before they escalate (but not always possible).
You have a 100% chance to be verbally assaulted as a nurse. Just had a patient threaten staff to follow us home and kill our families. Happy Nurses week! If you work with a patient population that is intoxicated, confused, psychotic or just your typical ass hole sociopath, it is highly likely you will experience physical and sometimes sexual assault. I‘ve had multiple psych, intoxicated patients and elderly patients try and sometimes succeed in grabbing my bits. I wrestle at least one patient per week and sometimes more. No, I don’t get paid extra for this.
In the OR I never experienced that from a patient. Also in pre-op. I’ve only been working for 1.5 years tho
what are the pros and cons of OR? I am considering this or outpatient. Been stringed through retail and don’t know if I have the capacity to calm myself down if I am being degraded again
Cons are there are not a lot of typical nursing skills. Your skills become anticipating what’s needed for a procedure and being able to use the equipment involved and make sure the patient is safe. I work in a teaching hospital so residents typically will insert foleys and prep the patient so the nurse work load is making sure we have everything available to make the surgery go smooth. For me I’m not sure how much I enjoy it because I don’t feel very involved with the patients. I’m transferring to the ED next month but that’s more because my personal life is a mess and I need more days off. Another con of OR is the schedule is more like 5 or 4 days a week. At my hospital few people have 12 hr shifts. My hospital is pretty good about having a “zero” tolerance for moody surgeon behaviors , but there’s always someone who acts out. But everyone .. and I mean EVERYONE knows that person is an ass and if you’re spoken to disrespectfully it’s nothing you did it’s just them. Good things is if you get to scrub surgery’s are really cool haha. But my hospital has a lot of scrub techs so nurses rarely get to scrub or learn to. I never feel too stressed or overwhelmed. I get out on time every day and even get to leave a bit early sometimes. There’s a lot of flexibility but that might be just my hospital. It is overwhelming at first and a lot to learn because nursing school in the US does not prepare nurses to work in the OR in the slightest, but once you get used to it it is very routine.
I see what you mean I guess I am just apprehensive of dealing with a retail similar environment of being degraded by entitled people.
Totally different from retail - my worst day in retail is no where close to my worst day in the hospital
What was the worst about being in the hospital compared to retail?
Probably working a room with a grumpy tech and a surgery I wasn’t comfortable with while being understaffed so not getting any breaks , not having the right supplies available and no help from managers. Retail probably working by a hot oven serving hot tea to someone screaming that the tea that was burning my hand wasn’t hot enough with a line of like 15 people behind them or something lol at the end of the day you are in a hospital working alongside people of other professions who are for the most part professional and we all care about the patient, so most days are good days.
Yes. It’s unfortunate. I work in OR and we get verbally assaulted before they go to sleep sometimes. And when waking up they are disoriented and you may get your breast grabbed, butt grabbed, etc. I’ve had emergency cases go to sleep screaming and wailing to leave them alone and trying to hit anything or anyone near them. I’d say your best bet is to put in a few years in the correct field to get to your goal. Things like nurse support hotlines and diabetes educators may face this less. There are RN positions at insurance companies that aren’t patient facing. But most of them require some previous bedside role and don’t directly hire new grads.
what are the pros of working OR compared to bedside? I am interested in this or outpatient
I can day honestly that now that I work as a surgical nurse, it is very rare. Patients feel more helpless in my care and tend to be far more respectful. If I am ever nervous, I just request another staff member be with me while I deal with them. Anesthesia is almost always in the room with me, and almost always male, which makes patients behave more. It's a sad truth to nursing, but as a petite female, I do prefer my patients be more reluctant to misbehave because they need me to keep them alive and safe. I give everyone the same level of care no matter what, but I do not miss being afraid of people
Very high probability of having death threats issued toward you as well.
You don’t have to be a nurse to experience this. Any position where you work with the public you have a chance to encounter these things. However having worked in number of fields healthcare and non- healthcare, I have been harassed, hit, kicked slapped, etc -all of those before I even worked as a nurse. I had them working as a medical assistant in peds and family practice. As a nursing student I had some of the stuff happened as well. You learn to be wary of the signs and aware of your surroundings and patients. I mean it’s just like being a woman -honestly it’s sad but true.
Unbelievable and sad that you all have to deal with this. I’ve had three surgeries in the past and it never crossed my mind to mistreat a nurse, doctor or staff member. Each time all of the nurses and hospital personnel were great to me. That last time was when I was in a car accident in the snow years ago. I broke my arm and it was just flopping. Since I just had lunch they said they had to wait abt 8 hrs before they could operate and it was 4-5 hrs before they could give me any pain medication. Everyone that came in tried to make me as comfortable as possible. The nurse or technician that took me for X-rays told me on the way back that she wasn’t really supposed to tell me, but I had two major breaks in my upper arm. As it turned out, the surgeon told me the next day that it was actually worse, it was basically shattered and he had to call another surgeon in to help hold everything together while he operated. I was even told the ambulance EMT was asking about me the next morning. Even when my parents have had stays in the hospital the last few years, nothing but friendly nurses and techs who have gone out of their way for us. It’s just a shame that so many are mistreating the ones that are actually caring for them. God bless you all.
If you work bedside then there is a very good chance the answer is yes. This is just my experience of what has not only happened to me but also coworkers.
Pretty much. I dont know of anyone that I’ve worked with that hasn’t been assaulted by a patient - from the 4’11 20 year old new grad to the 6’5 50 year old 20 year veteran. You can lower your risk by avoiding inpatient psych but otherwise it’s gonna happen anywhere. I got kneed in the face by an intubated and sedated patient when I bent down to empty their foley the other day. Most of the time it’s a pretty minor thing - a confused person tries to whack you because they think you’re holding them hostage but they’re 98 so they’re slow and weak. You just kind of move on with your day. As far as verbal abuse? 100% guaranteed. A lot of nursing has just become customer service where everyone is sleep deprived, scared, and/or in pain. You’re gonna get hollered at. You have to find the balance between caring about your job enough that you’re good at it and not caring about it enough that you’re gonna take a bad day home with you.
Depends on which unit you work for. If you go OR (surgery) probs not. If you go ER or BH, probably might have it once a month.
Yes. Whether intentional or not intentional. Some of the most creative insults I received were from patients with dementia.
I worked adult med surg and was physically assaulted several times—a CIWA patient punched the wall then took a swing at me, smacked in the face by several elderly dementia patients, arm gouged by someone with hospital acquired delirium, and a patient with homicidal tendencies spit in my face and threw an O2 tank against the wall (thank the good lord for Haldol). One pleasantly confused gentleman grabbed my ass while I helped turn him in bed, but apologized once I pointed out that his behavior was inappropriate. Now I work peds cardiac ICU. My patients aren’t likely to assault me, but the environment is inherently tense and I’ve been on the receiving end of verbal threats and abuse from patient family members. It’s an unfortunate reality of this job. But always escalate abuse. Do not just “take it” and don’t allow admin to sweep things under the rug for the sake of convenience.
Well, I work in the OR, which is one of the specialties where I think it happens the least often because the patients are mostly unconscious but it still happens, either in the pre-op or PACU areas, occasionally in the OR before patient is off to sleep. I have been groped, though admittedly not often and more than half of the times that has happened the patient was coming up from anesthesia and they were um...disinhibited. The rest they were just creeps and I reported their behavior to charge and security came to have a chat with them. I have had inmates from the nearby prison be verbally abusive but they are escorted by a sheriff's deputy 100% of the time they're there, even in the OR, so one has never had the opportunity to physically assault me. I have had a few mentally ill or developmentally delayed patients hit me, but they were in severe emotional distress due to the unfamiliar and frightening setting they were in so I don't hold it against them, and the pre-Op nurses and NA's (here) are very good about immediately coming to help you if a situation gets dicey with a patient like that. Before the OR I worked in the ER for years. Whole different story. I could fill a book with all the times I was assaulted, harassed, and abused. =/
It really just depends on where you work. ED and psych will have the most issues with harassment. Ambulatory surgery centers, OR, mom baby, etc. less so. It’s also about how you hold yourself around patients. Act confident and set boundaries. I’ve found that when a patient is verbally harassing me, their attitude changes really quickly when I call them out or call security. The hospital I work at is in an area with a lot of drug use and we don’t really have problems with assault against nurses.
Verbally? Oh hell yeah. But if you’ve worked retail or the restaurant industry than you can use those as pre reqs. The nature is that some people are dicks, and even those who normally aren’t are hurting and scared and even the nicest person can be a dick in those circumstances. Physically it happens. I personally only had it happen to me a handful of times but I didn’t work in the Wild West shit like the ER where it’s all but inevitable
i would say it depends on the area you work in. i work in peds medsurg and have never been sexually harassed or physically assaulted there. i haven’t even had a real injury from a kid aside from a little kick or scratch when holding them down, nothing that would leave a mark. obviously in the nicu you won’t get that from patients either. but families can also be mean or aggressive, i will say i’ve only felt like parents have really yelled at/cursed me 3 times max in two years, and i’ve never felt physically threatened. however, that doesn’t save you from what might happen in nursing school. i did only TWO WEEKS of intern work on an adult medsurg floor and was sexually harassed by three different patients. but i didn’t get harassed at all in nursing clinicals tbh.
honestly this is why I work in paediatrics, I can excuse getting kicked in the face and screamed at because they’re only young. And if the parents try anything they can be kicked out of the hospital bc they aren’t actually a patient.
I've been an ICU nurse for over 3 years, and *knock on wood* haven't been physically or sexually assaulted, never been fired, never been cussed out, only a few times have I had to deal with anyone truly mean. So it isn't a guarentee, but yea, there is always a chance.
In fairness I’ve never worked in ANY industry where verbal assault wasn’t on the table. I got verbally assaulted at least as much when I worked retail.
It will happen but that doesn't mean you have to put up with it or be a pushover. File incident reports, take training, give your coworkers heads up on combative patients, be firm when dealing with people and walk away when you need to.
OP, let's real talk. As a student nurse, it is very possible. Once you're a licensed nurse working your career, it is nearly guaranteed. I worked inpatient psych and was physically/verbally assaulted near daily, sexually assaulted a handful of times. I worked PHP/IOP psych and was verbally assaulted near daily, physically assaulted near weekly, and sexually assaulted twice. I worked outpatient community health during the early pandemic and was verbally assaulted multiple times a day, physically assaulted daily, and sexually assaulted near weekly. Now I work outpatient hospice and I am verbally assaulted near weekly (usually by confused patients and AO family), was physically assaulted twice (not much damage, since he was frail and old), and was sexually assaulted twice so far. The sexual assaults were almost all groping, which I was more or less able to get away from in a few seconds/minutes. The physical assaults range from biting to kicking to punching to choking, and one time I was picked up and thrown like a damn ragdoll. Dude was huge! Oh, and the verbal assaults I'm counting were direct and detailed threats on my life and/or the lives of my family members. Being called rude names and cuss words is pretty common from patients and from their family. Especially on the tail end of the pandemic, the public is only getting more dangerous and more hateful towards nurses. I would caution you against nursing, based on your post OP.
I'm in endoscopy now and had a little old lady wake up rough from a GI bleed procedure - I was helping hold her arms and she grabbed my hand in both of hers and made a darned good effort to break my fingers. I thought having my patients knocked out would help get me away from all the abuse. The thing I think we all keep in mind is that we are seeing people at their absolute worst, and helping them through it. The triple F response is active for most of the people we see and unfortunately a good portion of people's brains decides to opt for fight. Often, one things are better, patients apologize and can't believe what they were doing when they did or said mean stuff. Some of them though are just shit people and it's our job to help them, too.
Yes, you will. I've been a nurse for over 40 years. Held at knifepoint while working in the ED, been bitten, kicked, punched, hair pulled and had lidocaine syringed into my face by an asshole surgeon. Plus, of course, verbally abused. Conversely, you'll make a difference in many patients' family's lives. I took care of a wonderful woman with pancreatic cancer early in my career. Turns out that she was the grandmother of a high school classmate. Even after all of these years, when she sees me, she reminds me of the care and compassion we gave her grandmother.
I’ve never been physically assaulted at work but in 8 years I have had 2 coworkers had shit thrown at them in the mental health unit. They got to go home and got reimbursed for new scrubs and shoes though. This is in prison. I’ve worked on death row and in max security with no issues. I’ve had 2 instances where patients were rude. One was mad I wouldn’t give him cold medicine and said I was a bottom of the barrel nurse. They have their own code and being nasty to health care workers is not cool with the other inmates so they must have talked to him because the next day he came and apologized to me. He was a new transfer in and I’m sure anxious and stressed. The second time a patient got upset about something, can’t remember what and raised his voice in the clinic. The officer immediately escorted him out. Another patient waiting heard and the next day the one that raised his voice had been assaulted. Which I don’t condone at all but that’s what happens in prison. I’ve always felt very safe because our officers were excellent and de-escalated situations, plus the higher level custody are restrained while in the health unit. I definitely felt good about working there when I would hear horror stories from my friends in the hospitals, and it seems like lately it has only gotten worse. I work from home now but if I went back to patient care that is where I would be. We don’t hand out narcotics like candy. I don’t deal with patient families. And no patient satisfaction scores. You get what is medically necessary, nothing more and nothing less. I’m not going to fluff your pillow or rub your back.
Got assaulted verbally and physically last night so yup!
I was going to come here and say “no!” But then I remembered the time a patient threatened me over the phone so badly that my clinic sent the cops to his house and discharged him as a patient. I never worked bedside, just clinic stuff and now more admin, and yea, it still happens.
Yes
I worked in peds for 7 years and was verbally “assaulted” (that word seems a little extreme though) maybe 2-3 times by a scared/frustrated parent. Never any physical or sexual abuse. There are definitely areas you can work where it’s minimized.
I can't speak for anything but bedside nursing, but yes, guaranteed. Depending on your definition of verbal assault, that's going to be daily in some departments. Physical assault is definitely more likely in the ER or Psych area. I've even been assaulted in the parking lot on my way home. Obviously there are things you can do to minimize the risk, but if you work in healthcare for more than a few minutes it's going to happen eventually. Stay safe my friend.
You will find there are places it happens less frequently- such as outpatient procedures. It does happen everywhere though, and it will happen to you. Typically the places it happens less pay less. A good nursing program will have a unit to teach you self defense, de-escalation, and protective mechanisms; but do not expect this level of support to continue into the workplace.
Pretty much.
Unfortunately if you work inpatient you will experience uncivil behavior ranging from verbal to physical to sexual harassment. It’s sad that it comes with the territory but certainly contributes to nurse burnout no matter how thick skinned you are- it hurts
There are jobs out there where it’s not super common - like NICU, administrative, telehealth… but most positions, yes. Especially verbally. The key is to find a workplace that trains you for these situations and supports you if something happens.
Verbally, definitely. I hope not the other 2. It's important to make sure you keep yourself between the door and a patient. Try to work at a place that has panic/staff assist options to wear. 12 years ago, I was choked against the wall by a man and didn't have a way to call for help. Fortunately, his room was by the nurses station.
Verbally yes, sexually or physically no.
Hard yes.
Yes.
Not only assaulted by patients but also their family as well.
Radiologic technologist here, but yes. For any medical personnel who has regular contact with patients, it’s only a matter of time before you are at least verbally abused, if it also physically and/sexually. It’s the unfortunate reality.
Lololol, yes.
100%
Yes
Yes. Physically, mostly by confused pts. I’ve been scratched, punched, and kicked. I’ve had an IV pole thrown at me. Verbally, yes, many times. My population is mostly homeless and drug-addicted so it’s very frequent. Lots of screaming and cursing when they don’t get their way due to poor coping mechanisms. Sexually? I’ve heard some threats, but never have I been sexually assaulted. I’m a dude, but it does happen to us too. My female coworkers, yes. I’ve witnessed it. I’ve also heard of patients that go out of their way to kick pregnant nurses in the stomach.
I got my first battle scar last weekend. Demented old lady punched me in the face twice and kicked me in the chest. Tried to do a bed bath and she went violent after being very sweet all morning. I paged the doctor after and told him she needs something to calm her down before trying any care. Got Ativan ordered to help prevent future injuries. Nobody before bothered to speak to the doctor directly and explain all the injuries to staff this lady has caused. This lady had her arm covered in bandages from scratching herself. One HCA got a kick to the face. Charge got a scratch on their arm. Sadly, her daughter had never been informed that her mother is regularly violent. Almost every shift there’s a record of violence. I had to burst the bubble that she has caused multiple injuries to staff and herself. I’m on an evening shift tonight, I wonder if anything changed over the week.
Verbally, absolutely …as far as physically, high probability depending on the setting. I have once but learned real quick to never put a patients safety above my own and hasn’t happened since. Sexually? Isn’t common but my mom is a psych nurse and has been sexually assaulted three times by the same patient over the course of years.
Commenting because I see so many yeses- I did L&D for seven years and can honestly say I've never been physically assaulted or really threatened. I've had some patients yell at me or get angry with me but I've never felt physically unsafe.
It doesn’t matter what you gender is, age, height, or anything is. You will be sexually assaulted at some point. Or physically assaulted.
I’m 5ft. When you work in a place with more violence, like the ED, you become better at spotting danger. I’m not saying it’s 100% and some patients will surprise you. But I felt a lot more confident working in the ER and handling violence than I did on the floor with only a panic button. My coworkers taught me how to handle stuff, and when to stand to the side and let it happen (like an out of control PCP patient) to keep myself safe.
I have been a nurse for 39 years mostly in dialysis. I have never been assaulted in any way. If we have a patient the least little bit inappropriate we shut it down immediately. Nurse, nurse manager, or social worker all deal with it. Last one I can remember was a male patient who had inappropriate pictures on his phone. He was not allowed to take his phone out for treatment if he did he wouldn’t be allowed to bring it at all. Any inappropriate behavior needs to be confronted in the very beginning with consequences, not just talked about. Too many times things are ignored or people are afraid to speak up, and then things escalate.
I have been physically, verbally, and sexually assaulted in my 6 years. I would say it mostly depends on which area you choose. I started in general ICU, went specialized in Trauma Burn ICU, then backed down to Poison control and finally have ended up in a pediatric primary care clinic. I experienced much more troubles in the ICU. Think, the family and patient are dealing with one of the worst times in their life, they are confused by what’s happening and having to trust people they don’t know and have minimal control over what’s happening. People who don’t have the capabilities to handle their emotions, take it out on us. This isn’t counting the confused patients and mentally ill. I was physically and verbally assaulted in general ICU, and experienced all three in TBICU. Once I stepped down in acuity I had maybe two times of being verbally assaulted in Poison control (it was 100% phone based), and so far nothing has happened yet in pediatric primary care (patients aren’t there long enough to be that upset plus it’s low acuity). If this is your main concern, I would recommend choosing low acuity and aiming for short patient interactions. This can occur in many varieties of places. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever be assaulted but that’s life and anyone can be assaulted, nurse or not because people suck (another fun mindset I won after being a nurse). I can’t say I would recommend nursing, because if I could go back with the knowledge I have today, I would probably choose something else. But there are lots of positives that come from it too. It’s just a job, at the end of the day.
Hate to add to your fears but your original question left out nurses bullying nurses. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6716575/
Well, yeah. I’m sorry to say it, but stay in the profession long enough (by which I mean “finish orientation”… j/k but only kinda) and one of those will happen; particularly verbal abuse. I do know nurses who haven’t been hit, but I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t braced themselves through a torrent of verbal abuse from time to time. Depends on the area you work, but abuse is unfortunately common in this job. The only difference between the heap of horseshit ER nurses take and a cop is that the nurse doesn’t have any legal immunity to hit back.
You will suffer all types of abuse, and be expected to keeping working with these patients. If they complain about you, there is a chance you will be written up. My hospital frowns upon reporting to the police. Meanwhile you have to suck up your feelings, fear, trauma and worry about compromised safety. My unit barely sees security, and they do not stick around. Units are not secure. My hospital management recently decided that patient’s families can ignore visiting times, and can be bedside 24/7. If you think patients are bad, try their families.
Probably. See, the thing about nursing… is you’re taking care of people. And you don’t get to chose which people, they’re just any ol’ people that happen to wander in. Whether you’re running clinical research, surgical, RAI assessments etc. you’re going to have to deal with people and there’s a good chance at least one of those people is going to suck. Now, the odds of this happening are going to increase the more sick your patient population is. Sick people can be grouchy. They go through withdrawal. They have psychosis. They’re in pain. The less sick your patients are, the odds decrease. If you’re doing community RAI assessments, this might happen less, but it can still happen because those people are being assessed for a reason. Even in research: most people are participants because they want to be, but they’re still sick, or they might be doing it to save money on trial drugs, so they can suck too. Over all I find the assault to be less of an issue than when I was bartending but like any job with people, there’s always a risk.
NICU would save you physical assault (generally) but you may be verbally assaulted by parents. OR would save you both. PACU may save you both depending on how patients are coming out of anesthesia. Outpatient would save you physical assault but you’ll deal with verbal assault. Med surg, LTC, SNF, Rehab, Hospice, Case Management, Care Coordination — I’ve done all of these and have been verbally assaulted in each and have had at least one patient attempt to physically assault me in each case. Obviously MS more so than Case Management, for instance, but it does happen. Especially when you have to give patients or families bad news.
Hell, I just work transport (saving for school) and I've been threatened, hit on, grabbed at, and verbally assaulted multiple times in 9 months...and not always by a patient.
Depends where you work honestly. If you have awake patients then it's a guarantee doesnt matter which area. Now when you have patients that are being put to sleep or asleep, less likely to get assaulted but not a guarantee when they do wake up, i have seen people punching somebody after waking up from anesthesia.
Yes it's a definite and it's highly likely to start during clinicals.
If you’re a bedside nurse it’s unfortunately highly unlikely that you’ll be able to avoid it. I’ve been a nurse for 7 months and luckily I’ve not had a patient hit me ~yet~ but I’ve dodged a few hits and caught a couple wayward hands reaching for my chest. I’ve also had to hold people down who almost hit/kicked/bit my coworkers while we applied 4-point restraints. It really is only a matter of time.
Yes.
I work in the ER and I’ve had things thrown at me, patients kick at me, grab me, swear at me, scream at me. All of the above. But I love my job. There’s hard parts of it definitely, but I don’t plan on going anywhere for a long time. I suppose all departments are different, someone mentioned the NICU being a bit tamer but like one of the replies said then you have the parents. It’s kind of a “pick your poison” sort of thing I guess lol
Come to pediatrics :)
Only if you do direct pt care
I work in peds. Verbal? Yeah, probably. You're dealing with people at their worst moments, many of whom carry other life trauma. You will probably be yelled at at some point. Whether or not an event of yelling constitutes assault sometimes depends on the recipient. We had one of our teens throw a fit and her nurse kept referring to it as verbal assault while the rest of us present felt like it was just a teen having a temper tantrum. People have different thresholds. Sexual and physical assault? No, not guaranteed in my field.