A psychiatric nurse was attacked with a knife by a patient in Alsace. His days are not in danger. But assaults are too frequent.
10 days of sick leave. The nurse assaulted this 1er July by a patient is doing well. Attacked with a knife by an old man hospitalized at Rouffach CH (Haut-Rhin), she was hit several times. His days are not in danger. But for unions and employee representatives, this is too much violence.
Since the start of the year, 27 assaults have been reported within the specialized establishment. 8 resulted in a work stoppage. In the local press, the unions denounce an excessive workload and declining membership.
“It is a daily violence, spectacular, but also most often insults”, testifies for France Blue Alsace Juliette Wadel, from Force Ouvrière. The latest report from the National Observatory on Violence in the Health Environment (ONVS) reflects this experience well.
Frequent assaults
Alone, psychiatric services concentrate one assault in five. In the majority of cases, as in Rouffach, the violence is physical and targets caregivers. Attacks of this type are also common in geriatric wards.
In these two cases, one thing in common: the pathology is at the origin of the attacks. This could be the case for this old man, hospitalized for two days in psychiatry. He has since been transferred to a closed unit.
The director of the establishment pleads his good faith. According to him, the patient had not posed a problem so far and such an incident could not have been anticipated. He also recalled that security measures were tightened earlier in the year.
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