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Abstract
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These are verbatim responses that we and our psychiatric nurse colleagues have heard from friends and hospital administrators after they were attacked by patients. Assaults resulting in physical injury to nurses occur at an unnerving rate. Approximately two nurses in the United States are assaulted every hour, the majority of which occur in psychiatric units, emergency departments, and pediatric units (Press Ganey, 2022). These attacks account for 13% of missed nursing shifts (American Nurses Association, 2018). Per the 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, nonfatal, intentional injuries to health care workers occurred 10 times more in psychiatric hospitals than in any other hospital setting (Beeber et al., 2023).
The decision to press charges against a psychiatric patient is a personal and often complicated decision to make; however, nurses must remember that assault is not part of the job. It is often difficult for nurses as caring and compassionate professionals to assign the term "assault" to a violent event. The Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School (2022) defines assault as an intentional act that puts another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent harmful or offensive contact, including verbal strikes and physical violence. Nurses and nursing staff need to understand that assaults are not just physical but can take the form of verbal outbursts and aggressive explicit language. These violent encounters should be referred to as assaults to prevent inadvertently minimizing the emotional and physical harm experienced by nurses and nursing staff. But for the purpose of this editorial, we are most concerned with physical violence that has hurt or killed nurses who were just doing their jobs.
Nurses and nursing staff should be aware of their state's laws on assaults against nurses. In North Carolina, where one of us lives and works, assaulting hospital personnel is a Class I felony (An Act to Provide That it is a Felony…, 2015). So, from that State's perspective, pressing charges against assailants is not stigmatized, and it may even be encouraged, until a nurse is on the receiving end of the attack. Because of a culture of shame toward nurses who seek legal action toward patients who are violent and cause physical harm, many nurses and nursing staff who are assaulted do not press charges yet are left to live silently with physical and emotional injuries while caring for the same individuals who had inflicted this harm upon them. Although nurses need to know that pressing charges is an option, especially in this particular U.S. state, we also know that not every patient is an appropriate candidate for legal action. For example, nurses may not wish to press charges on patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, patients who are cognitively impaired, or patients who are children. Being tasked with distinguishing this boundary is a reason many psychiatric nurses choose not to press charges. It's just easier. ...
Language: en |