The knife attack at the Reims hospital on Monday aroused strong emotion within the hospital community, which is confronted every day, and more and more frequently, with verbal and physical violence from patients.
A profession in shock. The death of a 38-year-old nurse and the hospitalization of a medical secretary after a knife attack at the University Hospital of Reims (Marne), resonate in a particular way with the entire profession, Tuesday, May 23, in a a context in which attacks have become a daily occurrence. Not less than “35 nurses are attacked every day in the hospital, whether in the emergency room, in psychiatry or in nursing homes”alerted Tuesday on franceinfo Thierry Amouroux, spokesperson for the National Union of Nursing Professionals.
> > Knife attack at the Reims University Hospital: what we know about the attack that cost the life of a nurse
“At the hospital, everything the world knows each other. Even far from Reims, this aggression is a new blow for caregivers”, regrets Christian Brice, regional delegate of Brittany of the association of emergency physicians of France (Amuf). In practice since 2002, the specialist has noted a marked increase in incidents between caregivers and patients in recent years. “There is a lot of verbal abuse because of the lack of access to care. The attacks are daily, from the 10-year-old child to the demented old lady”he explains.
“It is absolutely necessary that our leaders take the measure of the lack of funding for hospitals. Patients arrive more and more frustrated in the emergency room because of the lack of access to care and they are more and more aggressive.”
Christian Brice, regional delegate of the Amuf,at franceinfo
Christian Brice himself was the victim of two altercations. The first, in 2010, when during his emergency department in Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d’Armor), an alcoholic patient struck him on the skull. “We couldn’t let him out, he recalls, so he headbutted me and I fell unconscious.” The result: head trauma and sick leave. Then, in 2014, a 17-year-old turned on him, fracturing several ribs. “It leaves traces, because that’s not why we did this jobdeplores Christian Brice. In addition to the physical pain, morally, we fear that it will happen again. We have a lump in our stomachs and we relive the scene as soon as a patient raises his voice a little.
“I come to heal, not to type”
Since 2019, guards have been hired by the hospital and a double glass door has been installed, as well as an isolation box, where a security officer is present continuously to manage the most difficult patients. “It works very well, because it has a deterrent effectgreets the emergency doctor. It’s their job, they know how to do it. There should be 24-hour teams in all hospitals.”
However, these devices do not always prevent incidents. Like Christian Brice, more and more doctors are victims of violence. In 2022, 1,244 incidents were declared by doctors, according to the report of the Observatory of the safety of the doctors published Tuesday by the National council of the order of the doctors. A number never reached in the last twenty years.
Nicolas is a nursing assistant in Paris. He remembers that night in 2021, when a patient, under the influence of narcotics, bit him on the hand, despite the presence of security guards. “I was followed for several days after this attack, because it was necessary to check that the patient did not have hepatitis.” In addition to the anguish of being contaminated, Nicolas experienced the violence of the attack particularly badly. “I had to defend myself and kick him to get him to let go of my hand.he remembers. It is this aspect that disturbed me, because I come to treat, not to hit.”
Daily verbal abuse
Since then, in addition to the presence of security guards, other measures have been taken. Large red buttons have been placed throughout the service so that in the event of an emergency, anyone can give the alert. In addition, the service psychiatrist’s office has been reorganized. Now, a window has been installed so that “outsiders can monitor, details the Parisian health professional. Her chair was placed near the door so she could get out in case of an incident and the patient couldn’t lock her in with her.”
In addition to physical violence, verbal aggression also weighs heavily on the daily lives of hospital staff. Pierre was a nurse’s aide for years in the emergency room of a hospital in Marseille. One night, he was attacked with a knife by a patient, who arrived directly in an emergency vehicle, with the firefighters. The security guards, present at the emergency pedestrian entrance, “so could not check his pockets and the firefighters had only checked his bagrecalls Pierre. But I didn’t take it the wrong way, because I knew the patient had nothing against me. She was a sick person, she didn’t know what she was doing. On the other hand, what was much more difficult for me to manage were the daily verbal aggressions, by the patients who could not wait any longer.
This is the observation also made by Catherine Deplaix, president of the association of medico-social and referent secretaries (ASMR). “In 36 years of career at the hospital, verbal aggression was daily”she reports, adding that she has seen an increase in cases over the past fifteen years. In addition to his personal experience, the medical secretaries of his association report new testimonies of verbally aggressive patients every day. “We feel a fear because of these daily verbal attacks.“
A context that plays on the attractiveness of the profession
Despite these difficulties, caregivers do not want the Reims University Hospital case to definitively close the doors of the emergency room. “The hospital, traditionally, is an open place, of care and rest. We must therefore have an appropriate response.argues Patrick Chamboredon, president of the National Order of Nurses.
However, the profession is going through a serious vocations crisis: in 2021, 10% of nursing students dropped out of their studies in the first year of training, according to a study by the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), published Thursday, May 11. “The question of safety in the hospital is a global subject, which plays on the attractiveness of the professionnotes Patrick Chamboredon. Because if young people now say to themselves that they risk not going home in the evening, I am not sure that this attracts them to this type of career.