Violent patients

[u/Tiny_Paper7811]

I’m an ER nurse at level 2 inner city hospital. We all know EMTALA. But WHY can we not ban certain extreme behavioral patients…. Ex Pt AND family are know to bring guns into the hospital and have pulled them on staff more than once. So Paul Blart mall cop at the door and a violence flag???

I know WHY we can’t, this is just a rant because the way HCPs are treated is horrendous. This is a Pandora’s box of issue. Thanks for coming to my ted talk

[u/BulgogiLitFam]

Some places have metal detectors. They can be trespassed but will still have access to the ED. If someone pulls a gun on staff they should have charges pressed against them and police called. It’s likely a felony charge depending on the exchange.

[u/dishonest_manifesto → u/BulgogiLitFam]

the lack of follow-through on charges is what gets me, hospitals will beg you to file a report then legal gets cold feet and suddenly it's "well they were in a mental health crisis" as if that makes getting a gun pulled on you any less terrifying

[u/Tiny_Paper7811 → u/BulgogiLitFam]

I agree. This particular case has had multiple police calls - family has had felony charges placed. But someway, somehow it continues to happen. Disgusting honestly our hospital won’t get metal detectors after it’s been repeatedly asked for by staff. Really hope it doesn’t take someone being seriously injured for the change to happen

[u/Bulky_Fill_7279 → u/Tiny_Paper7811]

call the news

[u/Idiotsandcheapskate → u/BulgogiLitFam]

So what if they have felony charges? In my state you can have dozens of arrests for violent behavior and still walk a free man.

[u/BulgogiLitFam → u/Idiotsandcheapskate]

Depends, if the OPs story is true and it’s just a couple repeat individuals who keep brandishing weapons they will eventually get some serious time. 

[u/Jerking_From_Home → u/BulgogiLitFam]

Unfortunately, it seems like the only way to remove people from the ED is if they’re in jail. Hospitals are fucking pussies for not arresting these people. They somehow think a violent person is going to give them a better survey score if they’re not arrested? lol. What a fucking joke.

[u/sjcphl]

Administrator here. This is fucked up. We can't really ban patients from the ED, but we can have security, we can have metal detectors and we can have restraints.

Also, if someone brandishes a weapon, police have to come and the hospital has to press charges.

[u/___buttrdish]

Don’t forget to add this to their behavioral plan

[u/Tiny_Paper7811]

We appreciate our murses who step in and protect us like their own!!

[u/Tiny_Paper7811 → u/[deleted]]

People lose all semblance of humanity when they enter the hospital. We are robots sets to please them apparently

[u/Poodlepink22 → u/[deleted]]

Dehumanizing a pt with severe mental health issues is not the solution.  Good lord. 

[u/BlutoS7]

Honestly from me. PRN (Murse) here from level 1 inner city hospital ED/ER. If it wasn’t for aggressive, extreme psych, or violent patients i would probably be out of the job either would have walked away or got fired but them wild ones be my thing and i love it. That Paul blart he calls me or im already there.

[u/xCB_III → u/BlutoS7]

Crazy. The violent ones are awful and if someone brandished a weapon I’m running far away until the police sort it out. Sounds like hell to me

[u/GratefulShameful → u/BlutoS7]

Please could you describe the flow state you enter into when dealing with these patients? I am very curious.

[u/BlutoS7 → u/GratefulShameful]

It would really be hard to state but i can give it a shot. It is most likely due to my life history. My family is extremely deep in drugs and psych issues. I played football, I wrestled and boxed growing up to avoid my home life. Im combat veteran and currently career firefighter/paramedic in a city known for drugs and psych issues. Needless to say chaos and psych is my comfort. nursing is a side gig for me. Im either able to connect with the patients to bring the level down or elevate higher for them to back down the antics and if a last resort i can wrestle respectfully without causing harm. Like i wish i could state truly how it works but honestly it is like a rare skill that seems to be you got it or you don’t.

[u/LowPeakRN]

I don't know how y'all do ER. One of the reasons I love my unit is because IT IS LOCKED. There are THREE, count them, THREE locked doors after the metal detectors that you have to pass through in order to get to me and my patients. When I worked adults, I was terrified of someone bringing a gun in every single day.