A labor and delivery nurse in Utah was recently assaulted by the male partner of her laboring patient.  Adam Manning allegedly grabbed the nurse’s neck, and then proceeded to fondle her breasts as she attempted to care for the woman carrying his child.  The victimized nurse promptly called police, and Mr. Manning was arrested and booked for charges of felony forcible sexual abuse.

This story is appalling on so many levels, but it is not surprising, and it is not rare.  What is rare is that the nurse called police, and that a “patient” was charged with assault on a nurse.  Hey, the patient/visitor is always right, and being assaulted is just part of our jobs as nurses right?  We know what we signed up for. WRONG!

Study after study indicates that it is very common for nurses to have been assaulted on the job by a patient or hospital visitor.   This includes physical, sexual and verbal assault.  Nurses working in long-term care facilities, emergency rooms and psychiatric floors report the most occurrences of assault.  But let me tell you, it happens everywhere, even in Labor and Delivery as the above link shows.

When I look back on my career as a nurse, I can tell you that yes, I have been assaulted on the job.  I have been kicked in the stomach by a patient, I have had a drawer thrown at my head, I have been pinched, bitten, spit at, and thrown to the ground by a patient.  I have been called derogatory names not worth typing.  I have been threatened with physical violence more times than I can count.  I have encountered visitors brandishing guns, and knives to the unit and making threatening gestures.  All of this while trying to do a job that helps and heals others.  Ironic huh?

There are many explanations as to why nurses face violence in the workplace.  We are the health care workers who are the most intimately involved with our patients.  We are there, at the bedside, and physically present with patients more of the time.  We are involved with human beings in some of the most stressful times of their lives.  We are involved with human beings who have mental illnesses and drug abuse problems.  We are involved with human beings who can be just plain, old-fashioned idiots.  We are mostly women.   We are easy targets.

I have been a nurse for 16 years, and anecdotally for me, it seems like the utter disrespect and resentment of nurses (and other health care workers), is on the rise.  Maybe I am just suffering burnout.  Maybe the longer I am in this game, the smaller my tolerance is for being treated like a slave or non-human by total strangers who I am carrying for.  Maybe for me, this article on the nurse being assaulted on the job, makes me overly sensitive to the garbage we face every day as nurses.

*Maybe I need a new career.  Cabaret singer?  Locksmith?  Cage fighter?  Circus clown?…the choices are endless*

RR