I am an ER nurse and I just want to raise awareness of the fact that we are frequently overworked and overburdened and experience abuse constantly.
I have been hit, punched, bitten, spit on, kicked, screamed at, sworn at…just this week alone.
All I can do is call security, write an incident report, and inform my manager. Nothing is done about it. We are so understaffed and don't have options to move violent patients. Even the ones we know have serious mental health issues and are abusive…we can't move them to the mental health area to be watched by security because there are too many patients crammed into that area already. So we get verbally and physically assaulted several times a week. The hours are long too. Sometimes I work 72 hours a week.
It is so stressful I am having physical reactions to it. Not sleeping well, migraines, constant aches and pains, fatigue, fear, and PTSD.
I became a nurse to help care for sick people and all I seem to be is a used Kleenex.
All I ask. To anyone reading this. Please treat health care workers with respect. We are fighting a war and losing. This is why so many of us are quitting in droves.