October 9, 2012. 03:50 a.m.
Twenty four hours ago, I became a
victim of an assault at work. A patient I was watching on the medical floor
punched me on the back of my head and face while I was assisting him in going
to the bathroom. But first let me backtrack to the events that led to this
assault. I reported for work in South Campus and saw that one of the mental
health workers had to float to 1 South. I checked the log book to see whose turn it was to do it and it was
me. I drove to the main building and when I arrived in 1 South I was assigned
to watch an elderly Filipino man who the staff reported created no problems
during that day, although he had acted out the day before, becoming violent
because he wanted to leave the hospital. After getting a snack and receiving
his medications, he went to bed and I thought it was going to be a long but
easy night for me. At about 10:30 p.m. a nurse discovered another patient
having a seizure in his room and the Rapid Response Team was summoned to check
him. This patient was just transferred earlier in the day from South Campus for
assaulting another patient. He had a previous history of having an adverse
reaction to medications causing him to become unconscious. In fact a few days
before, he was in ICU because of that. The family also reported that this has
happened while the patient was not in the hospital.
After being evaluated by the doctor, the
patient was ordered transferred to the medical floor (2 North). He had apnea
and had to be hooked up to the Bi-pap machine. A staffmember was needed to
watch him for breathing problems and in case he throws up while hooked up to
the machine. Having no other options, the nursing supervisor pulled me from my
duties of watching the elderly man and sent me to 2 North to watch what turned
out to be a crazier version of Mike Tyson. At first there was no problem
because the patient was very sedated from the medications he got earlier in the
evening. He was even taken to the radiology department to have a CT scan of the
head done, and a chest X-ray in his room to make sure he didn’t breathe
anything solid in his lungs while he was having a seizure earlier. Well, after
all those tests were done, the patient suddenly woke up and jumped over the
siderails of his bed to the ground. He was convinced by the staff to return to
bed. As the respiratory therapist was trying to hook him up to the Bi-pap
machine, he kept taking the mask off. He was given a regular oxygen mask instead.
Then out of the blue, he got up and tried to punch the respiratory therapist. A
code gray was called requesting assistance to control an assaultive patient. It
was the beginning of a long and difficult night for me.
Due to the recent reactions the
patient had to medications, the doctor didn’t want to order anything to sedate the
patient for fear that he would go into respiratory distress (I’m assuming).
Just a second after the patient tried to punch the respiratory therapist, he
looked calm as if nothing happened. He jumped off the bed a second time. A second
code gray was called. Again, just as soon as the patient was agitated, he was
quiet again. This was a dangerous sign because he was unpredictable and could
strike at any time without provocation. Still, a sedative was not ordered. The
rest of the staff went about their business after that and I was left alone
with the patient. He was also hooked up to an IV and he kept punching numbers
on the keypad of the IV machine. When I asked him what he was doing, he glared
at me and told me to leave him alone. I checked with the nurse to see if what
the patient was doing would affect the operation of the IV machine and he said
it did not, so I let the patient do whatever he thought he was doing. He even
got angry at a nurse when she told him to put his oxygen mask back on.
The patient fell asleep for about
an hour or so, but woke up suddenly at 3:50 a.m. wanting to use the bathroom. I
lowered his siderails, unplugged the IV machine, then as I was ready to escort
him to the bathroom, I felt a very hard punch land in the back of my head. I
felt another one near the same area, then on my left cheek. I yelled for help
as I was falling to the floor and a bunch of staff showed up at the door. Then
just like a couple of hours earlier, the patient appeared calm right after he
assaulted me. He even gave me a urine specimen that the nurse asked me to
obtain from him earlier. He was finally placed on soft restraints which I wasn’t
sure was going to hold him because he appeared to be too strong for them.
In the meantime, I had other
concerns. My head was throbbing and I was dizzy from the punches. I felt a bump
where the first punch connected in the back of my head and had some pain on my
left cheek. I told the nursing supervisor that I needed to go to the employee
injury clinic as soon as possible because I was afraid that I had a concussion.
He asked me if it can wait until 7 a.m. because he didn’t have enough staff to
cover the patient, and I said it couldn’t. He went to get the paperwork. When
he came back, he asked me to fill them out while he contacted the clinic. He
planned to have the hospital van take me there because I couldn’t drive myself
due to the dizziness. I learned much later that the clinic was supposed to have
a shuttle to pick people up but it wasn’t available and not only that, there
was no doctor available at the clinic. The nursing supervisor managed to get
authorization from the administrator on call to have me treated at our own
emergency room. I was escorted there at about 4:15 a.m. and more paperwork had
to be completed. Soon, I was evaluated by nurse Jack whom I knew from being
floated to the ER once in a while. He obtained an order for a head, neck, and
face CT scan. Funny to think about it now, but other than getting my vital
signs, neuro checks were not even done on me, nor a doctor see me until was
discharged several hours later.
So I was assigned a bed and while
waiting to be taken for the CT scan, I just sat there and read a magazine.
Pretty soon, I got a text message from Michelle, one of the nurses I work with
at South Campus, asking how I was doing. Our charge nurse Jim was checking for
possible admissions from the ER and saw my name as a patient there. They haven’t
heard about what happened to me. I texted Michelle back saying I was waiting
for the CT scan because a patient punched me on the head a few times.
After waiting for more than an
hour, the radiology technician showed up and escorted me to the CT room where
she took the three ordered tests for the head, neck, and face. She was the same
technician who did the CT scan hours earlier, of the patient who assaulted me.
After the scan I was back in my ER bed to await the results. My headache and
dizziness were still present but felt lesser. Michelle asked me if I needed a
ride home and I said I would let her know. Feeling less dizzy an hour later, I
told her that I may be able to drive myself home and thanked her for her offer.
Change of shift came at 7 a.m. and
I was still in the ER waiting for the CT scan results. This was the worst time
to ask a nurse for it as hospital workers would agree, so I just waited until
night shift to day shift report was done. I checked with Olga to ask her if
radiology is going to call in the results or if they had to check the computer
if it was already in. She said they just got the results and the doctor was
reading it. Then Jim, my charge nurse and Paulette, the psychiatric emergency
team nurse (she was working the ER that morning) showed up to check on me. I
told them what happened and that I was just waiting to be cleared by the
doctor. A few minutes later, a doctor came to ask me a few questions while I
asked him a few as well about my condition and CT results. He said I might have
suffered a mild concussion since I didn’t lose consciousness , I was not
disoriented, I answered his questions without hesitation, and didn’t have
nausea and vomiting. Those were all signs of a concussion by the way. He
offered me Toradol for the headache, but I declined fearing it would impair me
from driving. He said it wouldn’t but I said no anyway, saying I would just
take a Motrin when I get home. After that, with Paulette facilitating the
paperwork, I was discharged from the ER. I’m glad she didn’t put me on a 5150 –
72 hour hold J.
My long night wasn’t over yet
because I still had to report to the nursing supervisor to find out what to do
next with this workmen’s compensation issue. He gave me an authorization for
treatment at the employee injury clinic and I was finally able to clock out from
work close to 8 a.m. I called the clinic asking them if there was a time limit
after the injury for me to show up and the lady said no. I’m planning on going
there today for a follow up and see if I can be cleared to return to work
tonight barring any complications the rest of the day.
Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
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