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Fri Aug 7 14:46:44 BST 2009

Please see this link. 
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/111699.html

From EMMC website:

EMMC Takes Precautions to Safeguard Patients, Visitors, and Staff in
Emergency Room

July 31, 2009 
A national study released on July 30, 2009 by the Emergency Nurses
Association concludes that more than half of the nation’s Emergency
Department nurses have been victims of physical violence on the job. The
report, to be published in the July/August Issue of the Journal of Nursing
Administration, was based on a survey of nearly 3,500 ED nurses. The study
indicates nurses on nights and weekends are most likely to experience
violence, usually from patients or visitors under the influence of alcohol
or drugs, or with psychiatric issues. At EMMC we acknowledge the risk of
violence in the Emergency Department and we’re taking steps to safeguard our
coworkers, patients and visitors, while continuing to care for all patients
in need of our care.  
We treat and comfort thousands of traumatized people each year, with skill
and compassion. Whether the ailment is a broken bone, a tender ear infection
 or the anguish of unstable mental illness, all our patients are cared for
by the expert doctors and nurses in our Emergency Department.  And more than
the patients, we must attend to the needs of the family members, who often
are suffering too.
Our job, at a minimum, is to keep these patients and families, and these
doctors and nurses safe. Occasionally, we treat a patient who for reasons
beyond our control-- psychosis, extreme intoxication, or uncontrolled
anger--becomes aggressive, threatening harm either to self or to others in
the Emergency Department. We have protocols in place to de-escalate these
situations. 
Staff has special training that involves words, body positioning, and other
strategies to diffuse violent behavior. 
We have effective medical interventions to calm a patient as well if we can
safely approach him or her. 
In addition, we have special rooms in the Emergency Department that allow us
to isolate patients experiencing extreme agitation, with “one on one”
observation to keep them and others safe while we treat them. 
We use physical restraint only in very rare cases, and only with staff in
close proximity to monitor the patient and with strict time limitations. 
In very rare cases, (twice in the eight years that the Bangor Police have
been stationed in the EMMC Emergency Department during high volume hours)
the police have been forced to use a Taser to subdue a violently out of
control patient threatening imminent harm to caregivers. It is important to
understand the use of this device is not the EMMC staff’s decision. The
determination is made by the Bangor Police according to their policy. When
the threat of violence climbs to this level, the imperative must be to get
everyone safe before we can proceed with the care needed to help the patient
 In those two regrettable cases, the police officer was able to disarm the
patient, preventing permanent harm to the patient or any others nearby. 
A regular police presence in our Emergency Department during peak volume
hours tends to keep things calm. EMMC’s Emergency Room receives the most
serious physically and mentally unstable patients in the region, and perhaps
that means we are inherently more prone to disruptions. We work closely with
those officers to be sure they have a good understanding of all the steps in
our de-escalation protocol. And so they will know when we need their help to
keep peace. However, any hospital needing police assistance is subject to
whatever tools the officer carries to get things under control. Our hope is
that by having this device on site, we can be sure that the officers at EMMC
will always have at their disposal an effective tool for preventing violence
 one with results that are temporary and allow us to continue to treat the
underlying illness without adding to it.

-------Original Message-------

From: Doc Holiday
Date: 08/07/09 09:26:01
To: .Trauma List
Subject: RE: Taser in ER

From: ssides at midmaine.com
> EMMC will only house the taser and not use it. Its use is solely for
Police Officers. Unfortunately this story has created quite a stir within
the community.

--> "Unfortunately", maybe so. But NOT unexpectedly!

> Even with the media report, many people feel that EMMC is somehow
abandoning its passion for caring

--> Yup. Easy to see how they could reach that conclusion, even if wrong.

> I can assure you that that is not the case

--> WE know!

Assuring US helps you not at all!

> EMMC staff will continue to... utilize the Least restrictive methods in
de-escalation...

--> So what would have been better PR is to publicly invest your funds in a
couple of books on non-physical de-escalation and let the media know THAT!

> The tasers are another tool.....only for use by those trained to do so....
law enforcement only!

--> I think that, from the starting level in the USA, tasers are a real
improvement and will likely save lives and limbs. I am NOT against tasers.
But what possessed EMMC to OWN one? If only a trained law enforcer may use
it, then surely he/she should carry it into and out of the ED with him/her!
No bad PR for you, no expense of buying the thing, etc...

A question to those of you who live in the USA and are used to lawyers...

IF this taser is used, say, by the "correct" law enforcement person and, say
 the victim wants to sue... Will EMMC, as the owner and provider of the
weapon, not be more likely to be named in the suit? Is owning a taser you
claim you will not use not going to raise your insurance costs as well?

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