Nurse Hits Elderly Patient During Rectal Exam

17th March 2014

The English "Care" Industry:



A nurse who hit a patient during a rectal examination has been banned from the profession for a year. Cyrilla Adunse was assisting a doctor by turning the elderly woman at Kings College Hospital when the pensioner struck her with an open palm, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard. The nurse responded by hitting the pensioner back before storming out of the procedure before it was completed. The doctor reported Adunse to the ward manager the following day, sparking an internal investigation. 'Both of us were turning the patient when the patient hit the nurse in the chest area once,' the doctor said.

http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?page=2#sthash.p4w8exJ3.dpuf

BigAndy9 wrote:17th March 2014

The English "Care" Industry:



A nurse who hit a patient during a rectal examination has been banned from the profession for a year. Cyrilla Adunse was assisting a doctor by turning the elderly woman at Kings College Hospital when the pensioner struck her with an open palm, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard. The nurse responded by hitting the pensioner back before storming out of the procedure before it was completed. The doctor reported Adunse to the ward manager the following day, sparking an internal investigation. 'Both of us were turning the patient when the patient hit the nurse in the chest area once,' the doctor said.

http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?page=2#sthash.p4w8exJ3.dpuf

To be fair though, the nurse didn't just attack the patient. She denied hitting the patient actually, but the panel didn't believe her. Anyway, if she did, it was probably instinctive. She shouldn't have left the room without saying anything though.

Raggamuffin wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:17th March 2014

The English "Care" Industry:



A nurse who hit a patient during a rectal examination has been banned from the profession for a year. Cyrilla Adunse was assisting a doctor by turning the elderly woman at Kings College Hospital when the pensioner struck her with an open palm, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard. The nurse responded by hitting the pensioner back before storming out of the procedure before it was completed. The doctor reported Adunse to the ward manager the following day, sparking an internal investigation. 'Both of us were turning the patient when the patient hit the nurse in the chest area once,' the doctor said.

http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?page=2#sthash.p4w8exJ3.dpuf

To be fair though, the nurse didn't just attack the patient. She denied hitting the patient actually, but the panel didn't believe her. Anyway, if she did, it was probably instinctive. She shouldn't have left the room without saying anything though.

Actually anyone nursing will have be trained and attended lectures on being attacked by patients - and hitting back is just not acceptable. There is just no excuse. Especially with the elderly patients may be confused, frightened and will probably be in pain and sometimes do hit out - a nurse (and all medical staff actually) have to accept this is not the patients fault and the patient must still be cared for with compassion and understanding. I will not deny that it can be incredibly hard which is why all nurses are also trained to be aware of their own feelings and be prepared to ask for a break - its like the advice given to new parents of a baby that wont stop screaming - if you feel your temper going you make sure the baby is safe and leave the room. With nursing it is a case of informing another member of staff - the nurse could have said to the doctor "I am sorry I cant deal with this I need to take 10 minutes" and left the room before the procedure started to be covered by another nurse or for it to wait until they had had a break and got themselves together.

I think you are in the wrong profession if you think hitting an elderly person, even in retaliation, is the right thing to do...

Well she denied hitting the patient, that's all I'm saying.

http://courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?page=2&news_id=36223

Godisgoodallthetime wrote:I think you are in the wrong profession if you think hitting an elderly person, even in retaliation, is the right thing to do...

Oh trust me it can get extremely pressured - and not be a case of thinking it is a right or acceptable thing but literally a case of snapping. Nurses have to be responsible for themselves and make sure they do what is necessary to avoid snapping. Probably the finest demonstration of nursing I have ever witnessed was a male nurse of either Indian or Pakistani extraction who was having to deal with 2 female dementia patients with fractured hips. It was a 6 bed bay in an orthopaedic ward - there was an emergency in one of the other bays and the nurse was on his own. The ladies with dementia both started to try and get out of bed at the same time (because of being confused they could not understand they could not do so) and the nurse was flying between them to keep them safe - while one lady was mildly abusive the other lady was screaming accusations at him of everything from raping her mother to being unclean and was very racist with it (the sad thing with dementia is people may start believing stuff they rejected their entire life) - and this went on for over 20 minutes. The nurse never once raised his voice, or showed any emotion other than compassion and went from bed to bed (at opposite ends of the bay) calming and reassuring and working to settle the ladies. I was in with a broken leg I was not allowed out of bed with and could do nothing to help - and I know that in the same situation I could not have remained as compassionate and un-phased as that nurse.

Raggamuffin wrote:Well she denied hitting the patient, that's all I'm saying.

http://courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?page=2&news_id=36223

Not being funny but she would wouldnt she?

To be fair an elderly patient hitting out with an open hand is not going to be that hard - and why would the doctor lie?

sphinx wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:Well she denied hitting the patient, that's all I'm saying.

http://courtnewsuk.co.uk/newsgallery/?page=2&news_id=36223

Not being funny but she would wouldnt she?

To be fair an elderly patient hitting out with an open hand is not going to be that hard - and why would the doctor lie?

I guess so. If she had admitted it, I wonder if she would have been suspended for so long. Nurses are only human and nobody likes being hit. Perhaps she was stressed and just needed a good rest from it all.

Raggamuffin wrote:

sphinx wrote:

Not being funny but she would wouldnt she?

To be fair an elderly patient hitting out with an open hand is not going to be that hard - and why would the doctor lie?

I guess so. If she had admitted it, I wonder if she would have been suspended for so long. Nurses are only human and nobody likes being hit. Perhaps she was stressed and just needed a good rest from it all.

Generally if she had admitted it I would expect her suspension to be shorter and combined with training and practice assessment - the RCN recognizes that nurses are only human and get stressed and try to provide them with the tools to cope and be better nurses. An essential part of nursing is self assessment and knowledge - failure to demonstrate this is not good.

sphinx wrote:

Godisgoodallthetime wrote:I think you are in the wrong profession if you think hitting an elderly person, even in retaliation, is the right thing to do...

Oh trust me it can get extremely pressured - and not be a case of thinking it is a right or acceptable thing but literally a case of snapping.  Nurses have to be responsible for themselves and make sure they do what is necessary to avoid snapping.  Probably the finest demonstration of nursing I have ever witnessed was a male nurse of either Indian or Pakistani extraction who was having to deal with 2 female dementia patients with fractured hips.  It was a 6 bed bay in an orthopaedic ward - there was an emergency in one of the other bays and the nurse was on his own.  The ladies with dementia both started to try and get out of bed at the same time (because of being confused they could not understand they could not do so) and the nurse was flying between them to keep them safe - while one lady was mildly abusive the other lady was screaming accusations at him of everything from raping her mother to being unclean and was very racist with it (the sad thing with dementia is people may start believing stuff they rejected their entire life) - and this went on for over 20 minutes.  The nurse never once raised his voice, or showed any emotion other than compassion and went from bed to bed (at opposite ends of the bay) calming and reassuring and working to settle the ladies.  I was in with a broken leg I was not allowed out of bed with and could do nothing to help - and I know that in the same situation I could not have remained as compassionate and un-phased as that nurse.

I think the work load, hours and stress it takes everything they have to hold it together some days if not most days, it may seem harsh but that one moment of letting it slip will probably lead to dismissal, a very tough profession indeed..