Wednesday, November 28, 2018

News 12 at 6/NBC at 7

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A second nurse comes forward to our i-team after a violent encounter with a patient at Aiken Regional Medical Centers. Our I-Team first told you about the emergency inside the emergency room about a month ago. A decrease in mental care and an increase in drug use is putting more violent patients in the E.R. Nurses aren't blaming the patients. They're blaming hospital administrators and some they're leaving because of it.

A 911 call comes in from Aiken Regional Medical Centers. "We have a violent patient that has broken his restraints he has previously tried to harm staff now he has an I.V. pole and they kind of have the door

barricaded," a doctor in ICU tells the dispatcher.

"I walked out into the other patient's room I heard a scream," a nurse tells our I-Team She will never forget the feeling of overwhelming fear sweep over her. "It was terrifying I have never experienced anything like that in my life." We are not showing you her face because she says she worries about retaliation. She worries despite resigning a month after that September shift. "There are eight nurses and we are looking through the window and we see a guy charging us with an oxygen tank. I was horrified. My life flashed before my eyes. He said he was going to kill me he said he was going to kill the doctor he is going to blow up the facility," says the nurse.

911:

Dispatcher: "And they have him barricaded in a room?"

Doctor: "Yeah kind of. With human bodies, they're holding the door shut from the outside."

The doctor made the call after staff and security failed to control the patient. The nurse says real fail came from hospital administration. "I feel like it is part of the job dealing with patients that are on drugs because they are going to act crazy. What is not part of the job is the hospital is not backing you up and not staff you properly." She says she was assigned to just that one patient. She was assigned to the patient who eventually attacked staff while also assigned to a second patient.

Our I-Team got a hold of the policy for dealing with violent patients at Aiken Regional Medical Center. According to the policy, patients showing signs of potentially harming themselves or others need someone to watch them. The sitter or nurse "must maintain continuous visual contact with the patient at all time." "So I am supposed to keep my eyes on this guy at all times while with another patient and it's impossible you can't do that. It's not safe and that is exactly why things happened the way they did," she tells Liz Owens.

"Afterwards, I questioned what am I doing why am I a nurse? Did I do the right thing? I did not go to the police academy." She did leave. She resigned a month later after the incident. She says she left after her supervisor told her change the paperwork to show she was assigned to just one patient not two. She says she refused.

This is the second nurse from Aiken Regional to come forward to our I-Team with the same story. She too feared retaliation when she talked a month ago.

Aiken Regional Medical Centers sent us a statement in response to this story.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

(News 12 at 6 O'Clock)

AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Spit on, punched, kicked, slapped, bitten, and even groped while at work. Nurses and others working in the healthcare industry are the most likely to become victims of workplace violence than in any other profession, and now, more than ever. The increase in drug use and decrease in psychiatric care is sending more violent patients into the E.R.

It takes a special person to work in an emergency room. They see it all and get it all. "I've been bitten. I've been scratched. I have been pushed," a nurse tells our I-Team. We can't tell you her name because she worries her employer may retaliate. She works at Aiken Regional Medical Center. "There is an atmosphere of fear for stepping out letting people know what's going on at the hospital." What's going on? Patients assaulting hospital staff.

Our I-Team found at least thirteen cases where a patient assaulted or threatened a worker at Aiken Regional. The reports only show the incidents where staff called 911. "How many do you think are not reported?" Liz Owens asked. "Probably more than half. I mean 3/4 are not reported I would say," the nurse told us. She says management encourages them to handle violent patients in-house. "You first call for help from your coworkers and we try to deal with it the best way we can," she told us. The next step would be to call security. Aiken Regional, like most of our local hospitals, uses private security.

University Hospital also uses private security but will call in deputies for back up. Our I-Team found case after case where deputies responded to patients hitting, kicking, shoving, spitting, cursing, threatening and punching a healthcare worker. In almost all of the cases, at both hospitals, the offender (patient) suffers from a mental illness.

"There are not a lot of behavioral health services across the state anymore so we are seeing more and more behavioral patients in the E.R," Mark Schreiber said. He believes the decrease in mental health services combined with an increase in drug use is the reason more patients prone to violence are coming through AU Medical.

"It's a challenge across the country the state," Schreiber said. Lawmakers are taking action. Georgia made it a felony to assault a healthcare worker two years ago. In South Carolina, a bill is currently in the house that would stiffen the penalty for assaulting a healthcare worker. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 70% of workplace assaults happen in a healthcare setting.

Over the last two years, A.U. installed panic buttons in the E.R. and began training staff in self defense. Even students at the nursing school are being taught how to handle violent patients. "We also have a new process with a risk flag on the patient's record so the next time that patient comes you can log into the record and it will send an alert to let other people know this person has a history of violence," Schreiber said.

"I am worried about my safety and I am worried about my coworkers' safety because we really don't have a policy," the Aiken Regional nurse told us.

Aiken Regional Medical Centers sent our I-Team this statement:

"The team at Aiken Regional Medical Centers is committed to keeping its hospital safe. The facility maintains and follows a robust workplace violence policy with supporting procedures. To ensure an effective Violence Prevention Program, all members of Aiken Regional work together by providing education and awareness training, offering nonviolent crisis intervention technique classes, monitoring and assessing associate knowledge of policies and procedures and accepting feedback to enhance the program, and assembling a Management Response Team. The safety of employees, patients and guests of the hospital is a top priority."