Massachusetts is also working to implement laws confronting the issues tackled by violence prevention programs such as assault and battery. The programs currently exist as law in eight states. Massachusetts is also looking into the creation of a "difficult-to-manage" unit, which would put certain patients under stricter supervision.

Nationally, the American Nurses Association's (ANA) House of Delegates (HOD) released an action report this year, focusing on hostility, abuse and bullying in the workplace. The report followed a 2006 resolution, which addressed workplace abuse and harassment of nurses. In June, HOD resolved to "reaffirm and fully support principles from the 2006 resolution" and work with Congress to promote the growing problem of violence against nurses, according to the organization.


"ANA is dedicated to raising awareness of this problem and working on solutions, which include an emphasis on prevention and reporting," said ANA President Karen Daley in a statement.

Emergencies outside of the emergency room

ER and psychiatric ward nurses aren't the only ones at risk for patient-inflicted violence.

"With these kinds of behavior problems, dealing with people who are mentally unstable with violent tendencies, you can be a staff nurse in a hospital just walking by," says Pontus.

Pontus recalls an instance when a staff nurse was walking by a patient's room, who was calling for help with his urinal pan. The nurse went to help him, and he smashed the pan on her head.

"The nurse was going to help somebody," Pontus says. "She had no idea; she was just helping a patient."

A similar situation happened to Rita Anderson, then an assistant manager of a New York hospital's night shift. Due to the large volume of emergency department patients, some were laying in stretchers in the hallways.

As Anderson approached one stretcher, the female patient asked if she could use the bathroom. Because Anderson did not know the patient's history or current status, she went to ask the patient's nurse. After receiving the okay from the nurse, Anderson, a 115-pound woman in her early 50s at the time, returned and told the patient she could use the bathroom. The patient, a 16-year-old, 300-pound girl, said she couldn't get off of the stretcher and asked for some privacy to use a bed pan.

Anderson went to find an open slot - a partitioned section of a room - where the patient could use the bed pan. When Anderson returned to the stretcher, she leaned over to lower the rails. Out of nowhere came a blinding punch to Anderson's jaw. She fell back onto the nurses' station, trying to steady herself.

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