HAve you been battered by a patient or bystander?

Were you attacked and injured by a patient or bystander? (See first reply).

  • I have been attacked and injured by a patient or bystander on the job requiring medical treatment.

    Votes: 7 10.9%

  • I have been attacked and injured by a patient or bystander on the job and did not require treatment.

    Votes: 40 62.5%

  • I have never been attacked and injured on the job because I used or threatened bodily force.

    Votes: 3 4.7%

  • I have never been attacked and injured on the job and I have not threatened or used bodily force.

    Votes: 14 21.9%
  • Total voters
    64
I have never been attacked BUT....... had it not been for PD, or for Chemical and Pyschical Restraints I am sure I would be selecting a different poll option. God Bless Police Departments, Paramedics Need Heros too!
 
Another interesting poll...

The leading category shot ahead after the others went quiescent. Wonder why? Suggests quirk of responses.
 
For what it's worth, I have only been attacked a few times. Usually I can get out of the way or cause the guy to trip or something giving me enough time to get to safety. The only fellow I had to hurt, was unfortuatnely a 10 year old psych patient. My partner has positioned himself in such a way that when I made a hasty retreat, I noticed my partner was still cornered in the psych room. I wheeled the cot at the boy knocking him down allowing my partner to retreat with me. The boy needed a trip to the ER, but it wasn't in my rig!
 
Lucky you

About ten years ago a 13 y/o kid was tasered by police and it made national headlines. What they didn't report:
1. The kid was not a little bitty kid but a big strapping girl.
2. She was assaultive and had attacked two staff members where she was living, then run away where she was in danger on/in the street.
3. two cops finally cuffed her and when she was put in the cruiser's back seat she started kicking out the side windows, they could not hook her up to the hard points in the back (like what we anchor baby seats to today).Three choices: baton, gun, or taser. Answer C subdued her and she rode quietly to the inpatient unit she needed at that point.
 
Yeah, it wasn't the best outcome, but in the order of scene safety, me and my partner come before the patient and the cot was the only thing I had available to me at the time.
 
You mean....

You didn't smack him/her with an E cylinder!?;)

(Good on you!).
 
Haha, we were going in on a psych transfer (this was when I was with a private IFT). We're not allowed to take anything in but our cot on those...
 
This is my first time posting. iv been a medic for about four years. Every body at my service has a story about this. The designer drug craze is going to get someone killed. We are giving at least 20 mg of Versed to these people and it never slows them down. Here's one of mine, had a guy at least 250 lbs and 6' tall lunge at my face saying he was going to kill me. This guy went from 0 to crazy with out any warning. He called for belly pain. Just me, my partner, and my surpriser. he was in the area and got there first. Pt was just standing there looking off in space. I approached him from the front we made eye contact. He smiled and it was on. If it not been for the training i had in that kind of thing i would have been hospitalized. When we train new EMTs we need to quit using "is the scene safe". We need to change that to "does it look stable enuf to attempt pt care". The scene is only safe after we clear it.
 
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I have been attacked and injured by a patient on the job; no tx

I worked in a college town for 4 years. Fortunately, we had Management of Aggressive Behavior (MOAB) training. I liked the training because taught us how to quickly form a plan of action with whomever you are. The tactics to hold people down was great; but having wrestled for 12 years, I found ways with which I was more comfortable. But I digress..here are some incidents I've encountered.

bitten on hand by ETOH/PCP pt--simply tore my glove..ice pack when I had a break

punched in the neck by 76 yo dementia pt--MOAB and, literally, guided him to the floor gently

knocked off my feet by psych pt with 24 hr hold--pt got Urlacher'd by yours truly..both pt and myself unharmed with the exception of some raspberries on my arms from a good old-fashioned form tackle.

And, of course, you've got your accidental nut taps..you know, the one where you laugh it off in front of the patients and go whimper in the med room afterwards..
 
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