In February, Evelyn Lynch, a 70-year-old nurse at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, was removing a catheter from a patient when he suddenly knocked her to the ground and began beating and stomping on her.
Reams of surveys have documented the frequency of verbal and physical assaults in the nations emergency rooms.
The risk of violence simmers in behavioral health units across the country but it is possible to defuse that tension and prevent incidents through frequent community meetings between staff and patients.
After hospital workers encounter workplace violence, their medication use goes up, but there is no change in their visits to mental health counselors, according to a new study. Instead, they may be receiving much-needed emotional support from employee assistance programs.
