ER Security

[2muchplanning]

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I've heard tales of gang members rushing the ER (from a friend's dad who's a long time ER doc) to 'finish the job' on a patient, but I was wondering if any of you have had any instances where patients or family members have physically attacked you (either as residents or attendings).

If so, how do you handle that situation? How do you hold up the cloak of professionalism if someone's taking a swing at you?

(if this seems overly dramatic, be nice..I'm only a Med1 😳 )

 

[southerndoc]

Grady in Atlanta had an incident where several doctors, nurses, and staff were shot multiple times. It happened in the mid-80's I believe.

I think similar instances have occurred all over the country.

We go in "lockdown" mode whenever we get a shooting or stabbing victim. No visitors are allowed in the ED until the patient has left the ED.

 

[EctopicFetus]

At an inner city ER / Hospital I was at whenever we had a suspected gang shooting we would assign an alias for the patient and the patient would be allowed to only see his mother/father/wife. No other guests to prevent this sort of thing.

An attending relayed this story to me.. A guy gets brought in by the cops for beating his girlfriend and her daughter. Gfriend calls ex-husband who shows up and says he wants to see said patient. The patient was being aggressive before and as such was put in 4 point restraints. The ex-husband shows up with a knofe and stabs the guy.

Gotta love the ED!!!

 

[2muchplanning]

Gotta love the ED!!!

Well, it certainly helps keep your street credit in tact! 😎

 

[f_w]

Worked in an inner city ED during internship. Hospital had its own police department which would secure the place in case of gang related violence. Still, over the history of the hospital, 2 physicians got murdered on the premises by disgruntled patients (not in the ED though).


I did get decked once, but that was at a community hospital in the 'better' part of town. It was the dad of a patient and I had him arrested for assault and endangering the welfare of a minor a couple of days later.

 

[a_ditchdoc]

I worked as a medic out of a community ER for quite a while. I once saw a physician get punched after telling a son his mother was dead. Which, by the way, was the reason I started CPR on the old, obviously dead lady anyway (I tried to tell the doc this). The physician was a better sport than I would have been and did not press charges considering the circumstances.

Other than that I have seen a few patients over the years attempt to assault staff, pick up syringes, etc. One guy was seen walking through the hospital with a shotgun but disappeared before they could locate him. Despite all of this, I never saw anyone seriously hurt as they posted full time law enforcement and security in the ER. It is infrequent that these things happen and I certainly would not let it influence my decison on what residency to pursue...