Real-Life Scenario
Emergency room nurse Erin Riley suffered bruises, scratches and a chipped tooth last year (2009) from trying to pull the clamped jaws of a psychotic patient off the hand of a doctor at a suburban Cleveland hospital.
A second assault just months later was just as upsetting: She had just finished cutting the shirt off a drunken patient and was helping him into his hospital gown when he groped her.
"The patients always come first, and I don't think anybody has a question about that, but I don't think it has to be an either-or situation," said Riley, a registered nurse for five years.
For more information, including how to create a violence prevention program at your facility, please see OSHAcademy course 776 Preventing Workplace Violence in Healthcare.