Admittedly a lot of people think “voluntary” makes this a customer service situation where I’m not allowed to do that when the reality is that I just have to call somebody afterward to decide whether we’re changing their status to involuntary or kicking them out and calling the cops.
In that exact moment where I judge a threat to self or others I’m 100% allowed to use my judgment to neutralize the threat provided I a) maintain their hemodynamic stability and b) only do what is precisely necessary to neutralize that threat. Now that exact risk assessment doesn’t have as much formal training behind it as I think it should but it’s also usually at least partially a team decision and if the assigned nurse is newish there’s usually at least one nurse involved who has a decade plus experience (unfortunately these days that’s usually me). But like I said, there’s always a list of things I’m not allowed to do, but once significant threats of or actual violence happens, that list gets very short very quickly.
A lot of people think there’s this secret third option where they’re just allowed to buck up at my techs and throw things at them and that is just 0% ever a thing. I’ll let them get one incidence of bucking up at me or throwing something small at me like a small paperback just so I can truthfully document that I tried to go the least restrictive route, but I never ask my subordinates to take on that risk since they don’t have as many options to escape or get the situation back under control.
Admittedly a lot of people think “voluntary” makes this a customer service situation where I’m not allowed to do that when the reality is that I just have to call somebody afterward to decide whether we’re changing their status to involuntary or kicking them out and calling the cops.
In that exact moment where I judge a threat to self or others I’m 100% allowed to use my judgment to neutralize the threat provided I a) maintain their hemodynamic stability and b) only do what is precisely necessary to neutralize that threat. Now that exact risk assessment doesn’t have as much formal training behind it as I think it should but it’s also usually at least partially a team decision and if the assigned nurse is newish there’s usually at least one nurse involved who has a decade plus experience (unfortunately these days that’s usually me). But like I said, there’s always a list of things I’m not allowed to do, but once significant threats of or actual violence happens, that list gets very short very quickly.
A lot of people think there’s this secret third option where they’re just allowed to buck up at my techs and throw things at them and that is just 0% ever a thing. I’ll let them get one incidence of bucking up at me or throwing something small at me like a small paperback just so I can truthfully document that I tried to go the least restrictive route, but I never ask my subordinates to take on that risk since they don’t have as many options to escape or get the situation back under control.