Nursing Schools News Blog

While this article (Ivanhoes Medical Breakthroughs - Emergency Response Staff Face Verbal Abuse) deals with ambulance response workers and the like, the results should be considered by potential nurses too.

The verbal abuse ambulance control room workers face is enough to make them think about quitting their jobs, according to the results of a recent study.

A new report gathered from 48 employees at a National Health Service (NHS) ambulance service control room serving a population of on 1 million people shows 80 percent of the staff are verbally abused by callers during a shift.

Fifty-nine calls were taken each shift on average, and 7 percent of these calls were verbally abusive. Eighty percent of employees took at least one abusive call per shift. Authors report patients and other emergency callers were the most abusive, followed by doctors and nurses. Members of the fire service were least likely to be abusive.

It can be hard serving someone, as nurses do, not just thanklessly, but often even taking abuse for it.  Nursing is rewarding for sure, but at times it can take some tough skin.