Five Easy Ways to Protect Staff from Violent Patients

Below are five easy steps your staff members can take:

• Store stethoscopes in pockets. Although it's traditional to see physicians and nurses with stethoscopes slung around their necks, they can become a choking device if aggressive patients get their hands on the stethoscopes.


• Don't wear dangling earrings. A violent or confused patient might cause injury by pulling on the jewelry.


• Keep long hair up or pulled back. "It's long and flowing, it looks beautiful, but working in [a hospital], it's not appropriate from an infection control perspective and from a safety perspective," Bisset said.


• Don't wear ties. Yes, ties look professional, but there are again risks of being choked by the accessory. Bisset recommended clip-ons if staff members feel a necktie is needed.


• Wear a breakaway lanyard. Staff members may be accustomed to hanging a fabric cord around their necks to display ID badges or keep access cards handy. If this is the case in your hospitals, make sure the lanyards are breakaway-style so that the fabric and cards can't immediately be used as weapons.