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Nurse Beaten at State Mental Hospital
The News & Observer
June 11, 2008
RALEIGH – A patient with a history of violence severely beat a nurse at a state mental hospital in Butner early Monday, breaking bones in her face and pulling out clumps of hair.
John Umstead Hospital was cited by federal regulators in December for the failure of administrators to control violent incidents involving staff and patients. The assault comes amid concern that staffing cuts at the state’s four mental hospitals are making the facilities increasingly dangerous.
An investigative report says patient Scott Schoeller, 33, walked into the nurse’s office on Ward 352 at Umstead about 2 a.m. and started beating nurse Lisa McClure in the head and face.
Officers with Butner Public Safety are seeking a felony charge against Schoeller of assault inflicting serious bodily injury, according to the investigative report.
McClure, 38, was taken to the emergency room at Durham Regional Hospital, where she was treated and released.
Her husband said Tuesday it will take time for her to recover.
“Her face is still so swollen the doctors can’t fully assess the extent of her injuries,” said Bobby McClure, who is also a nurse.
McClure said that his wife had repeatedly expressed concern about staffing levels on the night shift at Umstead and that she might be attacked by a patient. Schoeller had recently used a chair to break out windows in the hospital.
Jim Osberg, the director of the state mental hospital system, said the 15-patient, all-male ward where the beating occurred was fully staffed with three nurses and a health-care technician.
The four staff members on duty were all female, however.
Hospital managers don’t always have the numbers of staff available to assign male workers with male patients, Osberg said.
Lisa McClure is 5-foot-2. Her attacker is 6-foot-1, according to the police report.
‘Risky job’
“We certainly try to have male staff on with male patients, but we have to staff with the individuals we have available at the time, and sometimes we only have females available to work,” Osberg said. “Our population of patients is challenging, and, at times, it is an inherently risky job we ask folks to take on. With any number of staff, you cannot necessarily predict when patients might become violent.”
Court records indicate Schoeller has faced criminal charges for violent acts at least six times in the past seven years, including convictions for assault on a public official in 2002 and for assault on a female in 2006. He served five months in state prison for the 2002 assault, according to records.
In December, investigators recommended withholding federal money from Umstead after faulting the hospital’s administration for “failing to prevent patient abuse and failing to monitor and modify a care plan to prevent repeated incidents of patient-to-patient and patient-to-staff abuse.” A subsequent report detailed how three hospital workers beat a mentally ill woman who was strapped to a bed.
Workers in state hospitals say they are the ones under threat, however. At a rally May 20, several employees said failed reforms of the mental health system were leading to increasingly violent and desperate patients.
“These patients have been getting more violent in the last five years because they aren’t getting the treatment they need,” said Bernice Lunsford, an Umstead nurse with 22 years on the job.
A panel appointed by Gov. Mike Easley’s administration to review North Carolina’s mental health system filed a scathing report May 15, saying deep cuts to hospital beds and treatment in the past seven years are endangering lives.
The group found patient-to-staff ratios at North Carolina’s mental hospitals lag far behind similar facilities in Tennessee and Texas and recommended adding at least 717 full-time employees statewide to help ensure safety.
“We firmly believe that current levels of staffing are inherently dangerous and … additional staff are essential!” the group reported.
$7 million boost
The budget proposed by Easley for next year includes $7 million to add 107 positions at the state hospitals.
At Broughton Hospital in Morganton, which lost its accreditation last year after a series of patient deaths, the head of the medical and psychology staff resigned May 30.
In an e-mail message to to his co-workers, psychiatrist Shujaat Nathani said the hospital was becoming too dangerous. He said colleagues at other state hospitals had shared similar concerns.
“I am leaving because of safety/health concerns with the staff shortages that are chronic,” Nathani wrote as he bid farewell. “On Ward 18 we have been running minimal staff most days, with a ward full of volatile young men with high testosterone levels. It is getting to the point where someone is liable to get seriously hurt or get killed. It puts all the staff at risk.”
(c) YellowBrix 2008 
rnjoey
18 days ago
4 comments
I also work within a State Psychiatric center for Children. It can be extremely difficult working in psychiatric areas. I have known nurses, who have had their wigs pulled off, spit on, hit and kicked. Doctors, who have also have been spit on and hit by patients. The mental health therapy aids, get the worst of it. They get kicked, hit, spit on, etc... it is just part of the job. Not having males on a psych unit can be extremely dangerous! I notice a big difference on the unit when when there are no males on the unit. The severity and the duration of the incident increase significantly.
Psychiatric nursing is very stressful and sad at times. This is why I am leaving the field of psych nursing as a full-time nurse. I prefer the Operating Room, Critical Care or the Emergency Department.
Denisern68
about 1 month ago
8 comments
Scary!!! I was affraid of Psych patients during my nursing school rotation, however my teacher made a good point. She said..at least you know that these patients have some type of mental disorder..Think about the ones we dont know about that are out in public..Still I wouldn't work in psych for my safety.
butterflylady10
about 1 month ago
4 comments
I work in Mental Health Hospital in SC. The staffing appears adequate on paper;however administration lets staff work long hours. This past weekend, a preg. employee worked 16 hr.Sat, 16 Sunday and continued over for 8mor on Monday morning, On Monday she sat with a patient in her home 4 hrs. I would rather work with less staff because the 1;1 AND COLS KNOW THE STAFF SNORES louder than the patients and as a nurse I have the staff for additional patients to keep my license. All of the things stated in the above article are current at this facility.
BarbLu
about 1 month ago
2 comments
I worked as a psych rn for 28 years. I had many many rewarding moments and times I thought it was the greatest job on earth. There were other times however where I felt fear for my or other staff's or other patients safety and those times were directly related to the administration's decision to cut staff where there was little back-up available. For example. Our psych ICU unit was redesigned and the Dr. who was the head of the dept proudly asked me if I wasn't happy that there were exit doors nearby that I could run through to escape from dangerous situations. I had to explain to him that I did not run from dangerous situations because there were copts (other patients) who would thus be left without anyone to defend them. Thus I would stay and deal with whoever it was until more help came. The Dr. was speechless. He had helped design the unit but thought the nurses priority was to protct themselves??! Yes being a mental health worker can be rewarding but nonone should have to worry or sacrifice their personal safety. Because of marriage I have left my job of 28 years and am between jobs. I am seriously considering seeking work in another profession and have begged my children to seek another line of work as well. Because of this and many other issues I feel that nursing is not a good field to be in at this time.
surfmom23
2 months ago
58 comments
I have worked in psych since i was 19 yrs. old and i have worked with every population, from gero to children and i have been hit, kicked, spit at, bitten, and had my hair pulled many times. I now work in a state psych facility, but as an employee health nurse and i miss my adolesent ward so much. We had some really bad nights, but when you are caring for kids and adolesents that have been beaten, tortured, burned, abandoned and abused to see that you may have brought them some happiness and or some feeling of safety for even a min. means more to me than any black eye. That is the reward.
candance
2 months ago
52 comments
This is a scary event. I pray for that nurse, her family, and cowokers.
beherenow
3 months ago
2 comments
I am a psych nurse in Ohio. Our state facility has just doubled in capacity, going from 40 to 80 patients. While our census has doubled, we still have only 1 supervisor and 1 police officer available to come to our aid when a code is called on our shift. I love my job, however my family is most important and I find myself weighing the risks vs the benefits a lot more lately.
sikckb
3 months ago
36 comments
That is scary, I would suggest anyone male or female working in a potentially dangerous environment such as this one to take Wing Chun.
kat88
3 months ago
96 comments
I was in more danger working at an out pt VA clinic then I have ever felt working psych. They had some very angry and unstable people threatening your life. There were many situations. the worst was a fellow thought he worked for the FBI and we (nurses) were terrorists inflitrating via the VA, sorry he kind of liked us, but we had put this radio in his tooth and he had to get rid of us for national security. His threats (many) were recorded on an answering machine. Well the VA did absolutly nothing, would not even put the poor guy in-pt. This went on for months. about 6 months later the VA got him into a homeless dom. (not psych facility) and was going to pay for him to go to paramedic school, that is so messed up. In psych i have found pt and staff safety to be the priority if the charge nurse asks for an extra person we get it. It is the only place i can recall that has adequate if not over staffing.
rndrew01
3 months ago
88 comments
Psych nursing is necessary.This is a rare case and things happen in ANY area of nursing.It sure is not just about needing a job or "deserving"to get hurt.THAT IS LIKE SAYING THAT WOMEN WHO ARE RAPED NEED AND DESERVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BLESSED THAT WAS SO NOT COOL!
kat88
3 months ago
96 comments
blessed that is not cool..you are blessed becuase of people that came before you, during, and after you for doing jobs that were and are not safe. It is usually not what you allow, but what risks you are willing take for others. wether you feel entitled or that you owe to your family, country or fellow man in general. i know this is a bit over the top, but this woman was not working there to give up her life, she is workign there to help people and probably because she is good at it. You are more likely to die driving to work, but you are not going to give up driving. Agree with ya frankie, psych nursing is very rewarding and much needed.
frankiecash
4 months ago
82 comments
Worked max security at larned state hospital in the mid 80s as a psych aid. worked the unit for evaluation for competency at the commision of the crime or for trial. All 4 units were extremely dangerous and many instances of violence happened. However, that is in a prison type setting and we were trained to take safety measures and to protect ourselves. A psych hospital setting is less dangerous and depending where you are there are security officers staffed 24/7. I enjoyed my rotation in school because of the experience i had. I encourage anyone that has a desire to work psych it is a much needed area and can be truly rewarding.
dwiedmeyer
4 months ago
32 comments
i am just going through a psych rotation and clinicals have been a little unnerving for me....when i went through RN school in Germany many moons ago, they let us decide to do clinicals or not. 30 years ago things were different i thought but I guess it hasn't changed that much after all. Speedy recovery for this nurse inside and out, and it takes special people to do this kind of job. I admire this type of work immensely.
blessedtolearn
4 months ago
2 comments
I know a good job is hard to come by, but lets be real you most often get what you allow. I would work three jobs before I would give up my life.
qnvictory
4 months ago
22 comments
Something similar happened at the facility where my daughter worked b4. An inmate "pt." took keys from one nurse (not quite sure how) and went into an office and paged another nurse to come into the office and when she came in he was waiting and he and beat the holy crap out of her. She was lucky to have lived through it.
Then one day she was working at another facility and an inmate threw his cup of water on her while she was doing the med line. Needless to say, the officers took him down and he was transfered out.... man I tell ya, we live in a whole new day and age..... not like it was in the good ole days...I know violence can and has happened just about anywhere, I even had a drunk wake up in his room at the hospital ready to take swings at me, luck for me to be short and fast..... I was able to get under the bed and out of the room and yell for help b4 he got me....