(PULSING MUSIC)
I said, "my name's Graham. I'm the nurse."
He's turned around to me and he's king hit me.
When I was pregnant with my daughter I was punched in the stomach by an intoxicated patient.
This has been three years since I've been assaulted. And it's not getting better. The
system needs to change, because it is on the rise. It's not going away.
GEOFF THOMPSON, REPORTER: Hospitals are where we go when we are ill or injured and need
help the most.
JACQUI PICH, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY: We are often seeing people as nurses on the
worst days of their life. So we certainly have a lot of emotions that are running high.
We also have people coming in with alcohol on board, we have people coming in with substance
misuse and mental health issues and sometimes they will have all three, a bit of a recipe
I think for the potential for violence.
PATIENT: Am I talking to you slut?
GRAHAM LEVY, FORMER NURSE: This is the first time that I have been here since I was assaulted
here in February of 2016.
- For the first time in two years, Graham Levy's returned to the scene
of a violent crime that ended his nursing career.
GRAHAM LEVY: I went to work as I usually did. I was given a patient to look after who was
critically unwell.
- Graham loved being a nurse, a job he's done since 1992.
Until one day in February 2016 when he was working at Macquarie Hospital - a mental health
facility in northern Sydney.
GRAHAM LEVY: I said, "Hi, my name is Graham. I am your nurse. Would you like some hot water
for a cup of coffee?"
He's turned around to me and started screaming at me, swearing and he's king hit me.
He was a large person, much larger than me, taller, heavier. He king hit me. I was stunned.
He hit me again. I went to the ground. He then kicked me twice in the head. He kicked
me in the abdomen.
Injuries to the abdomen, which caused a 15 centimetre hole to be kicked in my abdomen
as a result of the assault. My limited movement in my neck and I have lost 8 per cent hearing
on top of that.
(Reconstruction of a violent scene in a hospital from a television advertisement)
- Despite growing awareness of the dangers nurses face, and campaigns
to highlight them, the problem is getting worse, not better.
(Reconstruction of a violent scene in a hospital from a television advertisement)
- According to the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency, the number of victims
assaulted in that state's healthcare premises has increased by 60 per cent since 2015
and crime data in New South Wales shows that over the same period, assaults on hospital grounds
are up by 44 per cent.
JACQUI PICH (To student): What can you tell me about the vital signs here?
When we talk to nurses, 90 to 95 per cent will say they have experienced violence.
Usually this is verbal violence. So this might be swearing, threats, that type of thing.
(To student) Type 2 is diabetes mellitus.
- Jacqui Pich is a lecturer in nursing at Sydney's University of Technology
and has written widely about violence in hospitals.
JACQUI PICH (To student): Good and how about protecting yourself as well?
A lesser percentage will tell us that they have experienced physical violence, but this
is still typically well over 50 per cent. So more than half of nurses telling us that
and they are telling us that they experience that frequently.
So, often it is a daily occurrence or it can be even more than a daily occurrence.
- That doesn't mean all those incidents get reported.
(Reconstruction of a violent scene in a hospital from a television advertisement)
JACQUI PICH: Often nurses will tell us that they get blamed for episodes of violence,
rather than getting support. They are actually blamed for somehow causing this which makes
them reluctant to report.
LITA OLSSON, RBH, BRISBANE: I think underreporting is a global phenomenon.
(To security staff) How is everything looking? SECURITY STAFF: It has been a busy day actually.
LITA OLSSON: Okay, I wonder if we can see them up here.
- Lita Olsson is an emergency nurse at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
and a member of the Queensland Government unit tackling occupational violence.
SECURITY STAFF: We have got four specials running at the moment.
Two of those are quite aggressive males.
- Lita has been a victim of violence at work herself.
LITA OLSSON: When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was punched in the stomach by an intoxicated
patient, but I can honestly say that I don't know a single one of my colleagues who hasn't
been exposed, whether it be threatening behaviour, verbal abuse or physical assaults.
- Queensland's Health Department encourages reporting of even minor incidents.
As a result, overall incident numbers are significantly higher than other states.
They are also rapidly increasing - up by 48 per cent over the past three years.
SECURITY STAFF: We have got many down in 4C booths.
- Increasing the powers of hospital security guards is one suggested answer to
this complex problem.
LITA OLSSON: In my opinion, I actually believe they probably should have some greater powers
and I certainly don't expect them to be able to arrest people or taser them or things like that.
JACQUI PICH: If we have a higher security presence in hospitals, then we are creating
almost a prison-like environment, rather than a healing and a caring environment.
So I guess we have to be careful to manage that.
- Security guards didn't arrive in time to save Felicia Pickham.
The mother of four used to play with her kids at their favourite jump park in Queensland's Hervey Bay.
That is just not an option anymore.
FELICIA PICKHAM, FORMER NURSE: Now I feel like I can't do things and it is horrible
on me because I feel like I let my family down.
I can't believe that this man that had me for about three minutes has made such a big
impact to my whole life.
- Felicia says an attack by a patient at Hervey Bay Hospital in 2016 has
done lasting damage to her body and her mind.
FELICIA PICKHAM: I just went to lower the bed rail so he could get into bed and they
could help him get into bed and out of that he lashed out and he got me
and my life has forever been changed.
He was standing so he had full force. He was about 6' 4" and about 130 kilos.
He has grabbed my arm and he has ripped me up like you would start a lawnmower, I suppose.
Eventually, I think he pulled my arm about seven times before he did let me go and then
I left the room, of course, and security had arrived by this stage.
- Felicia says chronic nerve damage causes constant pain
and made her right arm virtually useless.
Felicia is suing the hospital for damages, claiming practical nursing work is now impossible.
FELICIA PICKHAM: I don't want this to happen to anybody
because it is not fair.
- These senior nursing students certainly weren't thinking about violence
when they choose this caring career.
NURSING STUDENT: It is a big reality, but I think I have come to accept it a bit more.
NURSING STUDENT 2: It is a bit concerning, yeah, that people think that it is okay when it is not.
I go in there to help people, I wouldn't expect people to harm me.
- Felicia Pickham now struggles to keep up with her three youngest children.
With her 19-year-old son serving in Afghanistan, she's no stranger to careers which put people
in harm's way - she just doesn't think nursing should be one of them.
FELICIA PICKHAM: It is not getting better. It is not going away and I just feel that
the system needs to change because it is on the rise
and I don't want this to happen to anyone else.
Hi, I'm Leigh Sales. Thanks for watching this story.
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