Time to End Nurse Abuse

Virtually every nurse has experienced or witnessed some degree of workplace violence. For Donna Fountain, PhD, RN, the first incident occurred many years ago when she was a student nurse.

“I remember the incident like it was yesterday,” said Fountain, co-chair of the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) #EndNurseAbuse professional issues panel steering committee and New Jersey State Nurses Association member. “It happened during a therapeutic intervention with a resident who was psychotic and experiencing delusions. Everything seemed to be going all right until he suddenly leaped across the table and started choking me. Immediately five big men [male staff] grabbed him, put him in a straitjacket and sedated him.”