GA: Kicked In The Ribs. Harassed At Vaccine Sites. Health Care Workers Are Tired Of New 'Normal'

[Emily]

The article title says harassed at vaccine sites, but the article says the harassment is at state testing sites. Maybe they are rough with the swabs in GA.

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/09/22/...e-tired-of-new


Kicked In The Ribs. Harassed At Vaccine Sites. Health Care Workers Are Tired Of New 'Normal'
September 22, 2021 1:00 PM
By: Riley Bunch

In the rooms at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, death threats made by patients against nurses are not uncommon. The verbal abuse has happened to both Kelsey Reed, director of patient care, and her staff.

Every day at the start of each shift, leaders from each unit debrief any safety issues over the past 24 hours.

“There's not a week that goes by that we do not hear about an instance in which a patient or family member was verbally or physically aggressive with staff,” she said.

The Albany, Ga., hospital — among the earliest and worst hit by coronavirus surge — has seen a recognizable increase in both verbal and physical attacks against its staff over the past 18 months, she said.

“Our health care workers, they're already working extremely hard, day-in and day-out, to take care of those that need it most,” Reed said. “So dealing with a violent or aggressive patient just increases that stress level even more.”

But the assaults on health care workers go far beyond words. In many cases, hospitals say, medical staff are left with injuries.

According to a Northeast Georgia Health System security team report, screams could be heard from inside a room at one of the system's hospitals. A patient had a nurse pinned against a door, pressing her head into it. The patient had hurt himself at the same time, and blood spilled onto the floor.

Another time, a patient grabbed a nurse by her wrist and started kicking her in the ribs, the hospital system said. The hospital system said it dealt with violent encounters nearly twice a day in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic overwhelmed hospitals.

Across Georgia, hospitals are raising the alarm on a startling increase in violent outbursts by patients against their staff...