[spoon.ek9]

to clarify a few things:

1. Patients are NOT allowed to use drugs while in hospital (we kick them out for doing so). I can't speak to other hospitals but I assume there are similar policies in place.

2. Nurses are reminded to search patient belongings and document everything found. This is for liability purposes but also for safety reasons. We have had incidents where individuals have come in with weapons and it was because their belongings were not thoroughly searched. Do I think nurses should be in charge of this? No, but in the interest of everyone's safety, it has to happen and someone's gotta do it.

3. Anyone who assaults a healthcare worker doesn't just get off scott free. We recently had an incident involving an young individual who decided to throw fists and kicks. He's being charged. The most enraging thing about situations like this is the nurse's union will ask the nurse "but what could YOU have done better in this scenario?". Like, ok, fuck right off with that bullshit lol geez.

4. I would absolutely love to see officers have permanent postings inside of Emergency. Will it ever happen? More than likely no. Certain patients know they can get away with toxic behaviour and mostly get away with it. Whenever police DO get involved (when we call them) those patients almost always immediately shut the fuck up and start behaving/start acting like the victim. They know the system, they know what buttons to push to get what they want. Even having security guards standing by does NOT prevent certain individuals from choosing violence. Some people really need that officer standing there with a gun and handcuffs to know when it's time to behave.

5. Anecdotal, but RCMP officers have told us that we in ER see more instances of violence than they do on a normal shift. From my own experience, this isn't surprising. So when we're talking about staffing places like this, would you want to work here? how about your gf/wife? Violence is just the end game for many patients. Prior to that it's insults, racism, spitting, throwing feces, and whatever else they can think of doing when they get upset.