Attack left nurse at risk for HIV

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Attack left nurse at risk for HIVBy FargenBoston Herald Health & Medical Reporter

Monday, June 11, 2007 - Updated: 06:42 AM ESTOne second, ER nurse Ellen MacInnis was inserting an IV into the arm of a drunken, HIV-positive patient. The next second, she was tasting the woman’s blood in her mouth.

“I opened my eyes, and all I could see was red blood,” said MacInnis, a 47-year-old Caritas St. ’s Hospital nurse who was exposed to HIV and hepatitis C when the patient swung at her from a hospital bed in July, dislodging the IV and splashing blood everywhere. “It was just spewing out.”

MacInnis, like several nurses interviewed for this story, pressed charges against her patient, something that nursing experts said was uncommon even 10 years ago but has become necessary for frontline caregivers dealing with an increasingly violent and addicted population

“The attacks have become more violent, patients are physically larger, and behavior is more out of control. Keeping a patient safe, these days, puts me at risk,” said MacInnis, a nurse for 19 years.

After the attack, MacInnis flushed her eye and went on an AIDS drug cocktail that prevented the infection from taking hold, but complications from the drugs left her too sick to work for two months.

She was depressed, anxious and says the attack was a “life-changing experience.” She no longer works in the ER.

“I’ve never been the same since,” she said.

The patient pleaded guilty to assault and battery and was sentenced to six months’ probation.

MacInnis believes that had the hospital had more security guards on patrol, the patient would have behaved differently.

Franco, a St. ’s spokeswoman, said she can’t comment on employees because of privacy concerns. But, she said, the hospital requires access cards to enter high-security areas, such as the emergency department. There are panic buttons for staff, locked units and one-to-one security for violent patients. The ER has on-site security every night.

“We recognize that nurses are a vulnerable population,” she said. “Part of keeping them safe is continually analyzing their workplace and implementing security measures.”

- Fifty percent of Massachusetts nurses polled in 2004 reported being punched at least once in the previous two years.

- Forty-four percent of Massachusetts nurses reported frequent threats of abuse.

- Thirty percent of Massachusetts nurses reported being regularly or frequently pinched, scratched, spit on or had their hand or wrist twisted.

- Eight-six percent of U.S. emergency nurses polled in 2006 reported being a victim of workplace violence in the past three years; 20 percent said it was a frequent occurrence.

- Health care workers experience violent assaults at a rate four times higher than other industries. For nurses and other personal health care workers, the rate is 12 times higher.

Sources: Massachusetts Nurses Association, 2004 survey; Emergency Nurses Association, 2006 survey; U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration - jfargen@...

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