No safe harbour: triage nurses as targets

Abstract

Previous UK nomenclature referred to emergency medicine as ‘accident and emergency’—often, in moments of frustration, it was said to have evolved to ‘anything and everything’. The concentration of multiple groups of patients, many acutely ill and distressed, some left with nowhere else to turn due to a failing system, in one place only serves to amplify frustrations. Few clinicians will have traversed a career at the front door without experiencing aggression at some point. The global stressors of COVID-19 have only served to accelerate this situation. Zaboli et al provide valuable insights into the uneven distribution of this behaviour even within the ED.1 In a 20-month period, their (small by UK standards) ED reported 91 incidents of violence—at least one a week. Most of the aggressors were young to middle-aged men with low-acuity presentations related to alcohol or drug intoxication. Most striking though is the disproportionate victimisation of nursing staff. Among the reports with complete information, 80 incidents …