Nurses who put their effort to offer us a quality service in the care of our health is affected by the aggressions by patients who suffer more and more frequently. According to the Spanish Medical College Organization, in 2023 alone, 779 aggressions were reported by patients or their relatives.
In addition, according to a report by the Ministry of Health in 2023, of the reports of aggression, 78% are women, which reveals that the lack of protection is further exacerbated in this group compared to men.
Although aggressions also affect doctors, the reality is that most affect nurses and, above all, in emergency care, where they are exposed to all kinds of situations and people. This leads to medical leave and situations of insecurity that complicate the provision of a good service to citizens.
A combo of aggressions that makes work impossible
José R. is one of the many nurses who work at the José Molina Orosa hospital and who has experienced aggressions firsthand. In the area where he works, in the Emergency Room, aggressions tend to occur even more because "until the patient stops feeling the pain or knows the diagnosis for which he comes to the emergency room", he is nervous and often loses control.
"I had to go to the National Police to report verbal aggressions for shouting and insults, such as those of a patient who complained about the waiting time to be treated and ended up telling me that I was a bad professional and that what was needed was to 'suck a good cock'", he says. The nurse has also received other threats such as "when I get out of here I'm going to go after your family or I'm going to slit your throat".
Francisco B. is another nurse who has had to suffer this type of violence from some patients and assures that "it is a constant thing that happens to us healthcare personnel and it happens regularly, usually once or twice a week".
This nurse has also experienced firsthand the lack of protection in these situations. "When I was working in the emergency room I had to report a person because she was exhausted because her family doctor had assessed her days before and her cold had not improved. She was very nervous and I asked her to leave the room, telling her that I had already assessed her and that I would attend to her later. At this moment she confronted me and lunged at me, insulted me and told me that I was a shitty kid and that if I was going to keep her waiting all day", he says.
Insults and aggressions become commonplace in the shifts of healthcare personnel. "We have to endure and tolerate this type of thing daily with people and in the emergency services the situation is even more serious, such as mistreatment by drunk or drugged people who insult you with words like 'faggot' or spit on you. I have received kicks from 15-year-old drunk teenagers when I went to administer their medication", says Francisco B.
On many occasions, people come, for example, to the emergency room with a problem but there may be other more serious patients and they have to wait. "People don't understand that in the emergency room they are attended to according to the severity of the assistance and they think that their problem is the priority and the most important", he indicates.
"For me it is curious how a few years ago everyone applauded the healthcare workers and the whole team for taking care of the population and years later they have returned to accusations and insults and to saying phrases like "I pay your salary", he denounces.
Situations that lead to medical leave
We feel unprotected
Another of the nurses who has been working for ten years in the emergency service of the José Molina Orosa Hospital has also received aggressions. Despite her experience, she can't get used to situations that hinder healthcare. She is currently working at the Valterra health center, where she suffered an aggression.
"A man who had been arrested the day before and had broken furniture in the health center demanded that we return the wallet that we didn't have, and at that moment he went to attack a colleague of mine and I had to get in the middle. I called the National Police myself, not even the security of the center did it, and in the end there was a trial and a restraining order was imposed on him from the center but he has violated it several times because he has come more times", she says.
In addition, the bad experiences do not end there. "The other day a man came apparently in a state of intoxication, entered the health center and no one noticed. He started threatening us saying that he was going to burn us alive. There is a security guard who is for the whole center but it is insufficient, we feel unprotected", she says. "These aggressions mentally saturate us and hinder the work", says the professional.
Lack of resources and measures
One of the main problems facing healthcare personnel is the lack of resources in medical centers. "In hospitals there is more security but in health centers there is usually only one security guard, which is scarce because there may be two aggressions at the same time and one is not enough", says José R.
Another of his colleagues also agrees with this. "What I would ask for to control the situation is to have security at the door and to filter who enters and who does not, because it is impossible to do our job and at the same time be controlling that a patient does not come to where you are to attack you", she says.
However, the nurses' complaints also involve improving the infrastructure of the hospitals. "We need the rooms to be well designed to escape in case of aggression because many hospital emergency services only have one patient entrance and if they attack you, you have no other way to confront the situation but to place a chair and cover yourself to ask for help. My colleagues have been threatened with death in these situations", explains Francisco B.
Another thing that this nurse denounces is that they are very exposed. "They can look for you with your name, in fact, I know colleagues who have been searched for on social networks and have tried to add them, something that greatly invades our privacy", he indicates.
Likewise, they also ask for other conditions with respect to their supervisors. "What I would ask is that they attend to the calls of a worker, whether it is two in the morning or three in the afternoon. Many times when we notify a superior, they give us the runaround and we feel unprotected", concludes another of the professionals.