HEALTH FORUM

Hi Folks I wonder if any of you can help me , I am simply trying to find the
number of reported cases of attacks on UK nurses in the last few years,
preferably seperated into in hospital, in A & E, and in the district, though
the combined totals would do fine.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

The Rifleman typed:

Start here http://tinyurl.com/3hxyr

--
Eddie Newall
http://www.freeinformationcentre.co.uk

The Rifleman typed:

Start here http://tinyurl.com/3hxyr

--
Eddie Newall
http://www.freeinformationcentre.co.uk

Midwives are most abused staff in the health service according to this new
study:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/news/index.asp?y 04&m=1&d=5&id=106769

--
Eddie Newall
http://www.freeinformationcentre.co.uk

Midwives are most abused staff in the health service according to this new
study:

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/news/index.asp?y 04&m=1&d=5&id=106769

--
Eddie Newall
http://www.freeinformationcentre.co.uk

The Rifleman wrote in message
news:...

As far as I can tell from the literature all surveys of assaults on
nurses are derived from self reporting studies. My own experience is
that staff often misinterprate the actions of distressed, frightened
and angry clients and that many reports of assaults are actually no
such thing. There are several other reasons why staff may also make
false reports including personal aggandisement and attempts to force
management to increase staffing numbers to reduce workload. These may
be conscious or unconscious motivations for making false or
exaggerated reports. Therefore all surveys of violence on hospital
staff should be taken with a large pince of salt. No survey has ever
been done to ask client accussed of assualting staff what their
interpretation of the incident was.

See Wright, S., Gray, R., Parkes, J., Gournay, K., 2002. The
Recognition, Prevention and Therapeutic Management of Violence in
Acute In-Patient Psychiatry A Literature Review and Evidence-Based
Recommendations for Good Practice. Prepared for the United Kingdom
Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.

Philip Davis wrote in message
news:6e32f763.0401230229.749cf989@posting.google.com...

remember the legal defintion of assault , its all about the victim and how
they perceived the actions of the aggressor



does there need to be a survey to validate illegal behaviour ?

i do not come to work to be abused or assaulted, by anyone, patient,
relative, public or staff. most staff will except some, very low, level of
expletive
use but not to be directly insulted and manipulated on a regular basis by
people
who believe they know the system better than those working for the NHS
itself.

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This is only true if the preception is reasonable. If the victims
perception is based on an unreasonable belief, such as a racist view
or a obvious misinterpretation of incident, then no legal assault
has taken place. In law evidence to support an accusation of assult
would also have to be provided. Anyway my comment is not about legal
definitions of assault but the, often not specified, definitions of
assault used in surveys of violence which make these rather numerous
surveys both of very poor academic quality, very unreliable and of
little practice use. This is clear from the highly variable and
contridictory results these surveys produce.

This a variation on the all men are rapists arguement. There needs to
be research done to produce effective schemes to protect staff from
violence. However, this research has to be accurate and comprehensive.
If staff are going to make assumptions about patients that are based
on unresearched and prejudicial views and management are going to
implement schemes based on poor research that doesnt take account of
such staff bias then schemes will be implimented which will alienate
patients even more and increase violence to both staff and patients.


When I nursed I didnt go to work to impose my beliefs onto others and
if patients used fuck every other word because that was their normal
pattern I accepted that. The other thing I didnt do was believe that
I knew better than patients what was good for them. I might be in a
position where I had information I could give them to help make a
decision for what was good for them but, in the end, I believed they
had the right to decided what was good for them. I also accepted that
this meant I might have to tell them I couldnt provide what they were
asking for but this didnt mean that it was wrong for them to ask.

Perhaps a change of attitude might help reduce the risk of you being
assaulted. But please feel free to continue to blaim patients rather
than review your own practice and empower yourself.

Philip Davis wrote ...

You have to laugh, really ...

I started my nursing in the days when most assaults involving psychiatric
patients were when staff assaulted patients.

You re-read your twaddle (above) it sounds just like the sort of rubbish
those abusive staff used to come out with. Next youll be saying Its for
their own good - Yes, I heard that offered as a defence

If you actually read any of the studies of assault, many spell out the
definitions, which include fractures, lacerations and more. Yes, some are
academically poor. Does that mean the staff *imagine it* ? Of course it
doesnt.

But This isnt really a discussion, is it?

Its a one-sided tirade, with no defence being acceptable.

I dont condone violence angainst patients or staff, or, for that matter,
anyone else. But I dont feel the need to deny the experience of assaulted
staff, any more than I would deny the experience of assaulted patients.

Get help, son, while you still have any insight left. Because only you can
ask for help.

And you know as well as I that while you feel powerful in your self-chosen
victim status, it doesnt last, and you are cutting yourself off.

Seek help.

And good luck.

Andrew

Martyn Hodson wrote in message news:
See my other post regarding research.

On a more personal note I give the following two examples.
I was once awarded damages for being assualted. These damages were
awarded, by magistrates, after I had presented evidence, in the form
of a video tape recording of the assault, and after the the man who
assualted me had, through his legal representative, had a chance to
question my account of events and offer his own account of events.

I have been accused of assaulting a female doctor. I have no history
of violence. This doctor has been free to make this false accusation,
she has not had to present any evidence to support this accusation and
I have been given no chance to question her account. My account of
events was dismissed out of hand. My request that I be prosectuded for
this assualted was denied by those working in the NHS who decided
it was not in my best interests to be given a chance to clear my
name. Having decided that I am a violent individual on the bases of
this false report the NHS is legally required to inform any staff
working with me that I am a violent person, including my GP, and my
relationships with these staff will have been affected. The
Information Commissioner actually has very limited powers with regard
to changing medical records and as a person on a small pension I can
not afford to take a private prosecution to clear my name.

Whilst such double standards are allowed to exist in the NHS it will
not surprise me that many people continue to feel alienated and
distressed by the NHS and the large number of arrogant, opinionated
and down right rude staff that it employs.

I certainly will feel a lot happier when I see the NHS Zero Tolerance
Zone Campaign being used properly as a way to modify staff behaviour
so that it deescalates violence and not, as my current experience is,
as a threat used to make vulnerable and distressed people act to a set
of middleclass mores which they may well not share. In particular Im
concerned that the NHS Zero Tolerance Zone Campaign may be used to
deny services to travellers, the destitute, street prostitutes and
some other such groups who dont fulfil the middleclass view of nice
people.

Id also feel a lot more confident that nurses were tackling the issue
of violence in a constructive manner if questions were being asked
about effective schemes for deescalating violence and not about which
group of nurses are most a risk of violence.

PS My fairly limited experience of midwives was that they were, as a
group and with notable exceptions, the most opinated and rigid group
of nurses I ever came across. Im not surprised that they are
reporting the most violence. Id be a little more surprised if they
were actually recieving the most violence.