Post by Stellar on May 25, 2023 11:41:53 GMT 10
This should never have happened. In a way I feel sorry for the officer involved however he shouldn't have resorted to the taser. But why couldn't the nursing home staff handle this matter themselves without calling police which just escalates the situation?
Looking at it from my perspective having once worked in a dementia specific facility quite some time ago ... there is a lack of training of staff. Many of these staff members are immigrants and they work as carers. There is a lack of qualified nursing staff and especially RNs who are not on duty except during the daytime and maybe one floating RN who does the night shift in a large facility and spreads themself very thinly with up to 400 residents!
If I was on duty as the EEN, I would have handled it differently. I would have simply requested another staff member to accompany me and I would have asked the other staff member to very gently approach the resident from behind whilst I engaged her face to face. I would have spoken very calmly to the resident because having dementia and being elderly she probably had hearing and eyesight impairments and they react to the tone of voice rather than the actual words. Tone of voice is extremely important when dealing with dementia residents because they do not always understand the words but they do understand a reassuring gentle voice. Then whilst engaging the resident and getting her to focus on me, I would have asked the other staff member to take hold of her arm whilst I gently removed the knife from her hand. The fact that the resident was holding a knife should not be assumed that it was with intent - in fact dementia residents would often pick up anything they came across as they wander around the facility. The reason for removing the knife would be to prevent her from injuring herself if she should fall. She was using a walker and was very frail. I doubt very much that she had any intent to harm another resident and I can't see her wielding a knife at anyone whilst having to hold onto a walker for balance. But maybe the rules are not to get involved in any way or form with a resident who is "armed" if you can call it that. But I can assure you that no one was ever instructed about what to do in such a circumstance.
On the other hand, there are some violent residents and I well remember taking cover under the desk in the nurses' station one night while a very active resident lobbed computer monitors and chairs at us over the counter and tried to open the gate into the station. I remember one RN who later came to this facility and the first thing she asked me was "where is my privacy and where is my safety?" Because if you're not safe in the nurses' station then where are you safe?? In this case I told the staff if it happens again, to call police - and this is the only case where I would call police. These facilities do not have proper screens around the nurses' station because it's imperative that staff can see the residents at all times. In view of this, management agreed to have a perspex screen erected. But these facilities do need to have security staff at night because if some resident decides to go on a rampage, it will always be at night! Another time another male resident had some staff locked in the store cupboard whilst he pounded on the door. There are quite a few residents who were sporting identities and are very fit. Usually they had alcohol and drug issues which caused their dementia but some of these guys were very big and could do some damage once they started throwing things around. Yet no security staff?
I don't know how things are handled these days in a dementia facility. Most dementia residents are in nursing homes instead of a dementia specific facility. In fact nursing homes are full of them and staff will continue to call police if there is any disturbance and qualified nursing staff are not in attendance. I suppose the treatment plans will continue to medicate and sedate the residents to keep them quiet and asleep most of the day. As far as nursing homes are concerned this is the most cost effective way of dealing with troublesome residents. But these facilities really need to work out how they will treat such disturbances in future rather than calling on police to handle something which really should be the nursing home staff's job.
Looking at it from my perspective having once worked in a dementia specific facility quite some time ago ... there is a lack of training of staff. Many of these staff members are immigrants and they work as carers. There is a lack of qualified nursing staff and especially RNs who are not on duty except during the daytime and maybe one floating RN who does the night shift in a large facility and spreads themself very thinly with up to 400 residents!
If I was on duty as the EEN, I would have handled it differently. I would have simply requested another staff member to accompany me and I would have asked the other staff member to very gently approach the resident from behind whilst I engaged her face to face. I would have spoken very calmly to the resident because having dementia and being elderly she probably had hearing and eyesight impairments and they react to the tone of voice rather than the actual words. Tone of voice is extremely important when dealing with dementia residents because they do not always understand the words but they do understand a reassuring gentle voice. Then whilst engaging the resident and getting her to focus on me, I would have asked the other staff member to take hold of her arm whilst I gently removed the knife from her hand. The fact that the resident was holding a knife should not be assumed that it was with intent - in fact dementia residents would often pick up anything they came across as they wander around the facility. The reason for removing the knife would be to prevent her from injuring herself if she should fall. She was using a walker and was very frail. I doubt very much that she had any intent to harm another resident and I can't see her wielding a knife at anyone whilst having to hold onto a walker for balance. But maybe the rules are not to get involved in any way or form with a resident who is "armed" if you can call it that. But I can assure you that no one was ever instructed about what to do in such a circumstance.
On the other hand, there are some violent residents and I well remember taking cover under the desk in the nurses' station one night while a very active resident lobbed computer monitors and chairs at us over the counter and tried to open the gate into the station. I remember one RN who later came to this facility and the first thing she asked me was "where is my privacy and where is my safety?" Because if you're not safe in the nurses' station then where are you safe?? In this case I told the staff if it happens again, to call police - and this is the only case where I would call police. These facilities do not have proper screens around the nurses' station because it's imperative that staff can see the residents at all times. In view of this, management agreed to have a perspex screen erected. But these facilities do need to have security staff at night because if some resident decides to go on a rampage, it will always be at night! Another time another male resident had some staff locked in the store cupboard whilst he pounded on the door. There are quite a few residents who were sporting identities and are very fit. Usually they had alcohol and drug issues which caused their dementia but some of these guys were very big and could do some damage once they started throwing things around. Yet no security staff?
I don't know how things are handled these days in a dementia facility. Most dementia residents are in nursing homes instead of a dementia specific facility. In fact nursing homes are full of them and staff will continue to call police if there is any disturbance and qualified nursing staff are not in attendance. I suppose the treatment plans will continue to medicate and sedate the residents to keep them quiet and asleep most of the day. As far as nursing homes are concerned this is the most cost effective way of dealing with troublesome residents. But these facilities really need to work out how they will treat such disturbances in future rather than calling on police to handle something which really should be the nursing home staff's job.
