When a patient slapped you

This post is a follow up to the story about Nurse Jane who was slapped by an angry patient while trying to explain to him how to take his food and medications.

Everyone was disturbed and angry but as usual,you need to keep your calm,recalling that he was still a patient and the customer was always right.

But would the customer be right when he assaults or tries to kill you even when you are there to save and nurture his own life?

I promised to let you know what happened between the hospital CEO, the patient and nurse Jane, today. So here is the story. 

Enjoy…

The CEO, who was a close friend of the guy was blunt in condemning the action and asked the man to apologize to his staff that he assaulted. The chief nursing officer was not comfortable with the apologies only but was concerned that if left that way, as the man was a regular visitor to the hospital, he might attack other nurses, and who knows, it might get worse than this next time.

Stories abound about nurses escaping death or serious injuries at the hands of people they are caring for.

Again, she was also concerned about other patients doing same to the nurses and she wanted a firmer stance on it. Nurse Jane had already informed her uncle who was a top civil servant in the ministry and he had complained to one of his lawyer friends who was furious and even before the CEO could be aware, they were ready to press for charges.

A big case of assault just begun.

The CEO was surprised and had to call an urgent staff meeting to address the issue. It wasn’t actually to stop the case, because he couldn’t immediately at that point ,but to ask nurses to discuss with him before taking such issues outside to third parties because of the hospital’s reputation.

Jane’s uncle was bent on taking the case to a conclusion even if it meant her niece leaving the job in that particular hospital. It was the intervention of the CEO who was ready to pay any price (not really financially), and his subsequent actions that helped calm the situation. It might end in a man to settlement,finally.

The patient also was able to see the enormity of what he did and was profuse with apologies. Funny enough he wasn’t the once proud and loud fellow who showed his power and intimidated the nurses whenever he came to the hospital. The prospects of what he was about to face if the case progressed was clear to him; the effect on his family and friends including his work place.

It now became a case of men and men. Jane left the entire issue up to his uncle and was finally informed that they settled it amicably.

What was understood was that it was taken out of court.

Many nurses and health professionals face real dangers from patients everyday and the rate of assault cases tend to be rising.

What can you do in case of an assault, a threat of assault and how can you avoid it? That will be the topic of our next article.

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