Nursing

ED violence is tackled with public safety room

Nurse Leader Weekly, March 3, 2008

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To help control violence in the ED, a Pennsylvania hospital has developed a public safety room that provides protection for nurses and ED patients.

At St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, PA, individuals who have been arrested and taken under police custody to the ED for services such as blood and urine testing (for a DUI, for example) are cared for in a public safety room. This is to ensure these individuals are cared for separately from the rest of the ED population. The features of the sparsely-decorated room include gun lockers, an eyewash sink for patients who have been sprayed with pepper spray, and a radio to call for backup.

Statistics on ED violence support the facility's development of the room. According to a survey conducted by the Emergency Nurses Association in 2006, more than 86% of the 1,000 nurses surveyed had been victims of violence by a patient or a patient's family member during the past three years.

Source: Nurse.com



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