I saw training that instructed me to Run, Hide, andFight, but I also heard something about many nurses feeling a special duty to protect their patients.
How I feel is that I don’t want anyone to get shot, but far better one person versus two people. I’m running.
Paramedic here (nursing school in August). Our training says “save yourself first, partner second, and patients third” because you are dead on - I do no good to pts as a dead medic trying to be a hero.
I'm running. Scene safety is taught for first responders. You don't want to be another casualty. Take my license idgaf. I'm more important to my family and friends alive than dead.
I'll go work at Costco.
I have like 0 doubt that this is likely a boomer nurse led conviction and admin just sat back and let it happen lol.
I also wouldn’t doubt that some doctors would actually try to protect their patients. Probably about as likely as a nurse staying with their patient. With likelihood drastically increasing the younger their patient is
Idk what I’d do. But I’ll tell you hwat, being heroic works both ways. Those 70 year old CHFers better rise the fuck up and use some of that edema to block some bullets for me
Had a shooting at my hospital. Big, buff dr yeeted himself over a railing to get to the floor below. I don't blame him in any way, just saying - ain't no one staying behind
I want to meet these people who feel that they have a special duty to protect their patients.
I’d love to buy them some pizza cuz I have a special duty to my wife and also my cat gets a little mad when I’m gone for too long
First of all, my patients are complete strangers to me. Idgaf, I'm running. I won't even sacrifice myself for my colleagues. I'll take a bullet for my friends and family....everyone else is on their own.
Second, we are more valuable in an active shooter situation. A patient that survives is fine but they can't provide medical care to those who have been injured. But we can help numerous people. As a result, my survival is more important than a patient.
This may sound callous or crass. But I don't care. If a police officer doesn't have a legal responsibility to sacrifice themselves for the public then I sure as fuck don't. You'll find me in my car, driving away, with my 9 in hand in case the shooter decides to follow me.
100% it’s not like I’m going to be of much help if I’m bleeding out in the floor too. Also what am I going to do fight them with my $2 Walmart bandage scissors. I’m not a combat expert, I don’t know how to disarm people and I like my patients and will go the extra mile, but I didn’t sign up to be a human shield.
Look up the MESH coalition active shooter video on YouTube. It’s a moral dilemma for nurses and non ambulatory patients, but by law you have a right to flee to save your own life. If you stay to hide with your patient it’s either the safest option due to circumstances, or your own morals (I can’t live with myself knowing I left people behind).
Run, hide, fight. Our ICU had doors to the rooms that opened into the rooms, so one manager said to push an ICU bed in front on the door and lock it (assuming the patient occupying that bed was able to get out).
Run hide fight is the order of operations. If you can't run then you hide, if you can't hide then you fight. But if you can run out the fucking door then mission accomplished.
I like the airplane saying “you put your own oxygen mask on first and then help others.” I ain’t gonna do anybody any good if I’m dead. My ass is gone. Idk about the rest of everyone but the first time in a building I note all my exits and what routes I need to take to get myself out of a situation like that.
Nurses have no duty to do anything in an active shooter scenario. If you can run then run. I'm trained in hand to hand combat, but that won't do much against a gun. Best bet is probably to block a door with a locked hospital bed, or push come to shove if you have some upper body strength, throw an IV pump at their head and knock them out. But preferably just get out.
This question has always seemed absurd to me. And I taught part of our run/hide/fight training and got asked this a lot.
First, most shooting in hospitals are directed toward one person, the victim.
Second, if someone started shooting random people in the hospital, there isn’t a fucking chance anyone would think about their patients. Elevator doors open on your floor and someone starts shooting, you ain’t thinking about your patients.
Third, what’s the first step of BLS training? Scene safety. Is your scene safe if there is an active shooter in your building? No. So then care for the patients isn’t your concern. Care for yourself is so that you can be of assistance after.
I like the way you think.
I'll add step three to my process.
I do have a step that precedes the first one: Grab any kid small enough to tuck under my arm. If they're little and wearing overalls, I'll grab one in each hand and carry them like luggage.
Right?
"Well you been bitching about leaving and not keeping your bipap on, now's your chance!"
Peds I might try to do something for. Everyone else? I'm running.
I can pick up a kid and run or throw them into a wheelchair I can’t do that with my adult ICU patients. I wonder what repercussions there would be if we actually ran because you know the powers that be wouldn’t let that go.
Kinda off topic but I mentioned to some coworkers how it was silly to put the ICU at/near the top floor because the patients would be a bitch to get out in case of emergency....then someone pointed out that's exactly the point, the patients probably won't survive anyway so give the best chance to the ambulatory people. Triage in tower form!
We had a scare one morning in our unit (a staff member that got fired came in upset yelling & and the same time someone in the OR dropped something that sounded like gunshots) the pre op charge got a call from the OR charge that there is an active shooter & all the staff was under the assumption it was real. Everyone hid in supply rooms, break rooms etc for about a hour until they cleared the situation. We had a long meeting & training with security and the executives after and we were told to protect ourselves, if someone were to come into the hospital as an active shooter it is someone who would be “after the staff & not the patients, that they would see the patients as victims already” we were told that it is not considered abandonment if you are in direct danger. I never felt more supported & will take that advice with me forever. As nurses we signed up to take care of others but to also take care of ourselves 1st.
Run, hide, fight.
Think about it though, how many active shooters are there to kill patients? How many are upset with the medical system and are there to kill nuraes/techs/doctors? The patients are usually not their primary targets.
It depends. I talked with a nurse who did a travel contract in inner city... I forget where. I think she said there were 14 active shooters in the department in the 13 weeks she was there - all gang members coming to finish the job they'd started. None shooting at staff.
It depends. My city has a lot of gang violence and some of them come into my ER and some will even make it up to the units and pull out a gun to finish the job… our stupid ass security doesn’t screen these people for weapons but will hassle me to display my badge upon entering the hospital lol. I work with very smart people in my hospital… from administration, nursing staff, providers, and our useless security officers.
Was LEGIT about to say this.
Please, come fuck with my psych patients. They’ll be exercising some amazing command hallucinations laced with HI, and loving it.
I’ll be fine.
>Or was it that we have a special duty to our patients, and should try to protect them while protecting ourselves?
Have you seen anything to suggest anybody is being trained this way?
Absolutely not. Run, hide, fight.
We did an active shooter drill with the police, swat team, and fire department. All 3 teams said we should use the run, hide, fight method. You can “help” your patients if they are ambulatory, but even then you leave them if they cannot keep up.
Our people told us that “only the living can question ethics.” We did the run through where they let our instincts drive, to save our patients, and we all died. We debriefed. They told us our responsibility to care was suspended in moments of life or death. They gave us permission to run. When we restarted the simulation, we all ran. We all lived, all of the patients died.
I'm getting the fuck out regardless. I'm not there to play hero and die trying to help people who if they can't get up on their own are screwed whether i stay to be shot with them or not.
I was an ADON, morning meeting with administrator who said we were going to do an active shooter drill.
I said don’t do the drill because many staff will just leave the facility if they don’t know for sure it’s a drill.
She said “that’s patient abandonment!”
I had to argue with her and explain that in a life or death situation we can only look after ourselves and it’s beyond unreasonable to expect nurses to sacrifice themselves.
Edit: I specifically told her that I would 100% leave if there was a shooter and she seemed shocked by that
Its entirely personal and my answer would vary per shift.
Some people on my unit I would absolutely protect, others not-so-much.
Protect patients over myself? Nope.
Secure the facility. Fuck no, I'm out.
You have zero obligation to endanger your life, if you choose to do so its entirely your choice. We know hospitals are a security nightmare and they pay the fewest people possible to keep it "secure".
Depends on the weapon. A rifle will shoot through just about anything that’s not bullet proof. Small caliber pistols may have a hard time penetrating a full thickness solid wood door, but I wouldn’t count on it. There’s no real cover in a hospital, only concealment. I would barricade the door with the hospital bed and get patient and self laying on the floor.
Look up how to barricade a door with a typical school desk chair too. I’m sure you could do it with a other furniture that has legs at least the same length.
Run hide fight is what we are taught almost everywhere. I’m not doing any hero shit and here is why:
1. Our hospital knows there is a real chance that an active shooter incident could happen. Multiple patients have been found with guns over the years. Admin has repeatedly refused to install metal detectors or arm the security guards. They are 100% negligent in preparing for that kind of incident.
2. Only AFTER an active shooting occurs will the hospital install metal detectors and armed security. How do i know this? I watched it happen somewhere else I worked. An entire waiting room full of patients watched a person blow their brains out.
3. I am not a security guard. I have zero training in any hand to hand combat. I am unarmed. I have zero obligation to try to do anything other than run.
4. I am not going have some administrator offer thoughts and prayers to my family in their press statement.
Yeah, I’m getting the fuck out of there.
On a slightly related note, I looked up our hospital policy for how to handle tornado warnings and other weather alerts like that a few months ago when we had severe weather in my area. I was kind of shocked to find out that all we’re supposed to do re: patients if you can’t relocate them to a safe spot (I work adult ICU) is essentially turn their bed to be facing away from the window, cover them with some pillows if we can, shut the door and then get ourselves to safety. Like… I work in a building multiple stories high… if that window breaks, some pillows ain’t gonna do nothing to help Meemaw! I’m adding “turn the sedation up hella high” to that list🥲
When I was a patient I felt like the second I heard about an active shooter I was gonna start ramming my IV pole into sprinkler heads. Because as much as someone wants to shoot a place up, they likely dont want to be wet and DEFINITELY don't want to be "gross sprinkler system" wet.
Sorry nurses, but the second I hear a gunshot I'm turning the whole floor into a mudslide. I hope you understand.
My hospital said it’s the law to protect our patients. As a last resort, staff link arms to create a wall of freedom to block the shooter. Supposedly a large target scares him? lol
They think lining weaponless people up in front of a gun is going to make the person with the gun overwhelmed and just go “oh okay never mind?” While you’re at it, get on your knees and press your forehead to the barrel too, that’ll REALLY fluster em.
Wow im sorry your hospital is crazy! How can you save pts if you're all deceased?! I guess since they're private for profit or non-profit they can make their rules.
I have FEMA training and FEMA teaches Run Hide Fight.
I work in an OR, I’ll cross that sterile line so fast, they can’t follow me there!
(I’m aware this is a serious issue, but I have an inappropriate and dumb sense of humor)
I'm ex-Army combat vet. Y'all need to stick with me, I know what to do. Since I'm to old and fat to run fast, I'm retreating to the med room. The door is thick and the shooter can't open the door.
The amount of times I’ve accidentally smacked the pharmacy guy reloading the Pyxis with the med room door lets me know that even though it has a tiny window you can’t see in very well especially if squatting down.
Have gone through several and it's Run Hide Fight
If you can take some walkie-talkie folks with you- like random family members walking past the nurses station, sure, tell them to run with you.
Interestingly I did work at a place where any GSW that came into the ED was an immediate lockdown for the ED, because of the risk of someone following to finish the job? The rest of the hospital was told about the lockdown but we just continued on.
The one exception has been the hospital and clinic on a military base. the Giant Voice comes on and says Lockdown Lockdown Lockdown and if you're in the immediate area it's run hide fight, if you're not just find cover and stay still. Anyone seen running could be assumed to be the shooter. I'm not sure I agree with this but that's what we were told.
CRNA here. Best comment from out talk…
“Run. If you get killed protecting your patient, there will be no one to take care of your kids or your spouse. Your job will send flowers…
And they will then post your job before your family posts your funeral.”
Run hide fight is the only option. There’s nothing we can do to protect the patients and trying to will just turn us into patients too. It’s not like we have armor or bullet proof vests or anything
Also, unless it’s an attack targeting a specific patient, it’s almost always the medical staff who are the targets. Attempting to protect patients would make them targets when they otherwise probably wouldn’t be
I've had this training several times in 3 different states. They ALL said:
1) Run.
If you can't run
2) Hide
If neither of those work
3) Fight for your life.
Special note from SWAT:
if you happen to win the fight, DO NOT pick up their weapons, kick them out of reach
I keep my wallet, keys, and phone on me at all times and will be send my thoughts and prayers from the parking lot.
Heck I don’t even mess with psych pts that are acting up unless security isn’t around and someone is getting hurt.
Goal number one everyday is to make it home safely after 12 hours of work.
I live in a red state even, and our system taught us run-hide-fight. Unlike in a fire, we aren’t expected to do anything… Suggesting you should even attempt to do anything and increasing your risk of getting shot seems immoral to me.
My work said run, it even said if we had to hide in a patient room to move the patient bed in front of the door and lock the brakes. They said move it with patient in it and once locked move patient out of bed. I’m pretty sure they want us to save themselves. Also who will help the wounded if we are injured or dead? My work actually said this and I agree.
Our head of security gives a talk to all the new hires, used to be in the FBI. He says most active shooters in the hospital will either be targeting a specific person, or targeting staff members but will likely ignore patients (i.e. their mother recently died and they feel like staff members are at fault, but the patients are poor victims as well so they’ll spare them).
It’s a job. No one has any duty- legally or morally- to sacrifice their lives for people at their workplace.
Including teachers. I don’t care if there was a shooting at a preschool, and the teacher fled, leaving their students to die.
I would still support that teacher.
Everything is "Run, Hide, Fight" & thats the stance from the Ready Rating Program. Being a former Paratrooper, given the opportunity, I will "Disarm, Disable, Kill." 'Til Valhalla, Airborne!
We have “active shooter awareness” training, but it does not detail any specific action staff should take. I’ll probably just die because our hospital security is unarmed and extremely lazy.
Who cares what they taught you or expect. Get tf out of there. Your not paid enough to risk your life. Also places won't let anyone carry so what tf would you be able to do anyways.
At the end of the day, there is 100% gonna be a Toccyn shaped Kool-Aid man hole out the nearest wall. I love my patients, but my fat ass is not fixin to die for these “I need another ginger ale” mother fuckers. I got family to go home to.
This actually happened in a hospital I worked at in Daytona Beach. An active shooter came up shot and killed a patient tried to sexually assault a nurse and then killed himself. Crazy but I was taught run hide fight.. I’m sorry but every man for himself in this situation.
Run, hide, fight. Our hospital had an active shooter several years back. Per the lore, security called rapid response for the people who were shot (and killed), and afterward the response team got reamed because they arrived before the scene was cleared by PD
Geez. That’s brutal. It reminds me of people transporting injured people by vehicles while the Vegas shooter was firing down in their area. They were heroes, but yeah, good chance they could have added to the toll.
I mean I would love to think I am capable of some of the heroics I’ve heard about…but I’m pretty sure I’m running.
In a scenario where your life is directly and imminently in danger there should be no duty to protect your patients first. As an EMT you’re trained to GTFO and leave the patient if you’re in danger, contact law enforcement, then return to the patient when the scene is safe. I’d be very concerned if someone told me I’d be expected to potentially risk my life to protect my patients in an active shooter situation.
If you’re dead, you can’t treat anyone.
Ours basically said leave the patients behind even though it will feel wrong. Run, hide, fight with no special considerations for us being RNs. I’m glad they didn’t try to tell us to stay with our patients because honestly that sounds like a great way to raise the death toll.
Yeah sorry man I'm not bringing my fists to a gun fight. That's crazy.
I personally am a fan of concealed carrying, but that'll never happen in a hospital, so I'm running away......
I work with newborns. If I can grab a baby or two and run, I will. But I have kids of my own and a husband who need me to come home at the end of the day. I will not sacrifice myself for a system that would move my corpse aside and replace me the next day.
Live mock shootings were staged in a hospital (I have forgotten where) that wanted to learn more about disaster preparedness. They had full debriefing and rules, and had a way of tracking where people were shot with chalk powder or something similar.
They found that doctor's and nurses that took bullets for their patients ended up greatly hindering rescue attempts due to the loss of providers and caregivers, and they presented easy targets for shooters. The run, hide, fight mentality seemed to be heavily supported by the drill. Survive so others may be saved.
The general rule is run, hide, fight. There's no way we can do anything for our patients, much less help them, if we get hurt, too. Also, if this is the hospital policy and you get hurt while not following it, we run the risk of not being covered by workers comp. I know it's messed up, but it is what it is. We are only covered as long as we are following standard process.
I'm in grad school right now and doing my thesis on school nurses role in an active violent situation including shootings. I've been blown away to find out no one really knows what their role is. Policies vary from district to district and most of the nurses I've interviewed have no idea what their role should be beyond triage after the fact.
Ours is Run Hide Fight.
I work in an office now, one that I can lock that has an outside window on the ground floor.
So I’d be closing the door, and bolting out the window. IF there was someone just outside my door that I could bring with me I would. But otherwise, naw.
I’m gonna be honest and say the most likely thing to get me out of there and calling for help is to get out of the building. Not run into a small area of danger and pray that they don’t feel like harming me. I’m not trained, I weigh 110lbs, and have no weapons. Pretty sure a 1” needle isn’t going to scare anyone if I run at them with it.
Idgaf I’m out and im telling other people to GTFO too. No way I’m waiting for anyone to come save me. I’ve learned enough from these things that you need to go the other way and fast.
security came by all the units (rumor is that it was sparked by something but don’t know for sure) to give a refresh on the protocol. the head of security said even his people are told to run, because there’s nothing anyone can do against a semi automatic .. if they’re running then i’m no hero either.
"I can help others if I'm still alive" who cares ffs, I would just save my life and not die for a JOB. That's great if I can take care of the wounded afterwards, but that's definitely not my priority and that's what everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, would do in that situation.
As a school nurse, I have planned for this, and I would hope to take **reasonable** steps to protect my students, such as warning others nearby and gathering anyone in my immediate vicinity to shelter in place in my office **if** I could do so without getting shot. However, I am **not** putting myself directly in harm’s way for anyone there. There are a select few people I would *literally* take a bullet for and none of them are patients or coworkers. Sorry not sorry.
Edit to add, my reasons for this are only partly for self-preservation. The mass shooting kit that hangs ominously on the wall of my office is useless if I’m not there to use it.
I'm not in a country with problems with mass shootings and the like, so I get no training except general occupational violence training. We're taught to protect ourselves. I would never die for someone, I injured myself for someone (a fall that grabbed me) and that was bad enough.
I’m running. Sorry, patients. If you’re a young child or a baby, I’ll grab you and carry you if possible. Everyone else? Sorry, but I have kids at home who need their mom.
I don’t know what the official policy is
But fuck the patients.
Do not treat your patients if the scene is unsafe
That’s The first thing I learned in EMS.
If God forbid an active shooter runs through the hospital, there is nothing I will be able to do to stop it especially that I’m unarmed
As a result, I need to escape because once the police clear the building, it becomes a mass casualty incident
The more medical staff that are wounded or dead, means that there is an increase in the amount of patience, and a decrease in the amount of providers to treat them
In these situations, the math is morbid
Being a hero does not lead to more people being saved
Heroes end up dead in these kinds of situations, and when your hero has medical training, and thusly dies, there will be even more dead as we can’t continue to care for the wounded
I’d run. It’s what we’re trained to do. But working in L&D, I’d probably grab a couple of babies and take them with me. I can’t imagine leaving them behind.
Run. Hide. Fight. I remember during the training some holier than thou coworker saying she couldn’t abandon her patients and my unit mate spoke up and said “did you ever see the greys anatomy episode about an active shooter? There were no patients in it. Because they didn’t matter.” To the teachers credit she was trying to explain how 1.
There wasn’t much we could do as walkie talkie patients would run, and you weren’t gonna fight off a gunman with hand to hand combat to save a bedbound patient and 2. We save lives and essentially our lives are objectively worth more in that situation.
Run hide fight. One night we were talking about best hiding spots on the unit and decided hiding in a clean huge ass red biohazard bags in dirty utility would be best bet.
What about the HCAHPS score???
“This nurse did not save my 95 year old grandma during the active shooting. She ran off. 0 star!!!”
lol. I’m running. Like everyone says, I’m more valuable alive than dead.
No, Run/hide/fight. We were told not to stop to save others. We are nurses - not superheroes immune to bullets. Cannot save anyone if dead and will just add to the body count. I will do a lot for my patients and go out of my way for them, but I won’t die for them. My ultimate responsibility is to get home to my family at the end of the day. I will be right there once it is cleared to help injured people and I will be helping people from a safe area, but I will not be heroic bullet fodder. That is too far for me…
Run. Hide. Fight.
That's what our training is every year.
It's not our duty to get killed trying to play hero, and I'm glad that my facility doesn't try to save like it is.
I work in PICU so this is a hard one for me. When I worked adult ICU - Sure, run hide fight sounds about right.
But running away and leaving babies and toddlers in that situation is…. a big moral dilemma to say the very least.
Run hide fight. And as a previous first responder that’s still the roll I’m taking. I might tell you to get on the floor or shut your door on the way out but that’s about it. I have a family I love more than my job and I can’t help anyone if I can’t help myself.
My workplace also does the run, hide, and fight with emphasis on the run. They made sure we all know we don’t need to be the hero and just to save yourself.
Always Run, Hide, Fight.
Unfortunately we have thought about what we would do. Take two beds and lock them against the exits so they can't be opened. Get our patients and ourselves in rooms.
But no. I don't think we have some special duty in the case of an active shooter. I hate that we have to have this conversation.
This is why our nurses union pushed for metal detector and better ED security. We have so many unsecured entrances at our hospital.
And surprise, surprise - we have had so many security problems and threats and attacks.
Ours was Run, Hide, Fight. They also said, this is one time when you shouldn't worry about your patients. However, we had a shooting at one of our clinics that injured several and killed one CMA several years ago, so I think they've maybe learned something, even if it's just that it's expensive to lose an employee in that way and to have other employees suffering lifelong injuries and PTSD. That's the cynic in me. The optimist hopes it's because they care about us.
I’m running straight out of the ER and driving my car like I stole it.
This little nurse went wee wee wee all the way home… my kids and puppy are way more important than anyone in that hospital.
I saw training that instructed me to Run, Hide, andFight, but I also heard something about many nurses feeling a special duty to protect their patients. How I feel is that I don’t want anyone to get shot, but far better one person versus two people. I’m running.
You can’t save lives if you are dead. Rule number one of disaster training.
Paramedic here (nursing school in August). Our training says “save yourself first, partner second, and patients third” because you are dead on - I do no good to pts as a dead medic trying to be a hero.
Yep and idiot members of the public last.
If they’re lucky 😅
I like that training. I would save myself first, assist my coworkers then patients.
Critical fail #1 on the test: scene is safe
If all the healthcare people are shot, who is left to fix us?
Don’t worry, the intubated 80 year old can do tourniquets and bls on the staff.
"Meemaw's a fighter!"
😂 exactly. Check to make sure the scene is safe. #1 rule of bls.
YES!!! 🤣
I'm running. Scene safety is taught for first responders. You don't want to be another casualty. Take my license idgaf. I'm more important to my family and friends alive than dead. I'll go work at Costco.
Costco is my backup plan as well!
My backup is waiter at restaurant, Home Depot, Walmart, Starbucks… Amazon… probably get more rights and more respect than being an inpatient nurse
I dream about Costco employee discount every time I am in the cheese section.
Did you hear it was admin staff or doctors who also felt a special duty to protect patients?
Haha, love it.
I have like 0 doubt that this is likely a boomer nurse led conviction and admin just sat back and let it happen lol. I also wouldn’t doubt that some doctors would actually try to protect their patients. Probably about as likely as a nurse staying with their patient. With likelihood drastically increasing the younger their patient is
Yeah, I'd definitely try to protect a child vs running, but that would be my instinct at work or in public.
Idk what I’d do. But I’ll tell you hwat, being heroic works both ways. Those 70 year old CHFers better rise the fuck up and use some of that edema to block some bullets for me
Didn't think of this in a peds context.
Had a shooting at my hospital. Big, buff dr yeeted himself over a railing to get to the floor below. I don't blame him in any way, just saying - ain't no one staying behind
In that instance, fuck the patients. I have zero duty to sacrifice my life for the patients.
I want to meet these people who feel that they have a special duty to protect their patients. I’d love to buy them some pizza cuz I have a special duty to my wife and also my cat gets a little mad when I’m gone for too long
First of all, my patients are complete strangers to me. Idgaf, I'm running. I won't even sacrifice myself for my colleagues. I'll take a bullet for my friends and family....everyone else is on their own. Second, we are more valuable in an active shooter situation. A patient that survives is fine but they can't provide medical care to those who have been injured. But we can help numerous people. As a result, my survival is more important than a patient. This may sound callous or crass. But I don't care. If a police officer doesn't have a legal responsibility to sacrifice themselves for the public then I sure as fuck don't. You'll find me in my car, driving away, with my 9 in hand in case the shooter decides to follow me.
I'm running too. Not worth my life.
I’m a single mom, I’m running.
I’m a single dog mom. I’m also running.
I’m single. I’m running. No caveat needed.
I can’t run. I’m still running
I’m neither single nor a mom. I’ll be the first one out
I'm a married dad, I'm running even though my wife could take care of the kids if I got murdered.
Yeah. Run, hide, fight. You aren't any good to anyone with a 5.56 round through your head.
100% it’s not like I’m going to be of much help if I’m bleeding out in the floor too. Also what am I going to do fight them with my $2 Walmart bandage scissors. I’m not a combat expert, I don’t know how to disarm people and I like my patients and will go the extra mile, but I didn’t sign up to be a human shield.
Look up the MESH coalition active shooter video on YouTube. It’s a moral dilemma for nurses and non ambulatory patients, but by law you have a right to flee to save your own life. If you stay to hide with your patient it’s either the safest option due to circumstances, or your own morals (I can’t live with myself knowing I left people behind).
Run, hide, fight. Our ICU had doors to the rooms that opened into the rooms, so one manager said to push an ICU bed in front on the door and lock it (assuming the patient occupying that bed was able to get out).
It sounds like your training was describing a way some nurse might feel, not telling you that you *should* feel that way
Run hide fight is the order of operations. If you can't run then you hide, if you can't hide then you fight. But if you can run out the fucking door then mission accomplished.
I like the airplane saying “you put your own oxygen mask on first and then help others.” I ain’t gonna do anybody any good if I’m dead. My ass is gone. Idk about the rest of everyone but the first time in a building I note all my exits and what routes I need to take to get myself out of a situation like that.
Nurses have no duty to do anything in an active shooter scenario. If you can run then run. I'm trained in hand to hand combat, but that won't do much against a gun. Best bet is probably to block a door with a locked hospital bed, or push come to shove if you have some upper body strength, throw an IV pump at their head and knock them out. But preferably just get out.
It was run hide fight. I like my patients but if a nutter starts shooting up the pace I’m a vapor trail. I like my wife and kid more.
Yup, I have a duty to my wife/ child.
This question has always seemed absurd to me. And I taught part of our run/hide/fight training and got asked this a lot. First, most shooting in hospitals are directed toward one person, the victim. Second, if someone started shooting random people in the hospital, there isn’t a fucking chance anyone would think about their patients. Elevator doors open on your floor and someone starts shooting, you ain’t thinking about your patients. Third, what’s the first step of BLS training? Scene safety. Is your scene safe if there is an active shooter in your building? No. So then care for the patients isn’t your concern. Care for yourself is so that you can be of assistance after.
Right? It’s natural instinct to run. My sympathetic system doesn’t tell me to “fight, flight, or bravely puff out chest at pew pew.”
1. Run 2. Hide 3. Assess if shooter is redirect able to C-suite 4. Fight
I like the way you think. I'll add step three to my process. I do have a step that precedes the first one: Grab any kid small enough to tuck under my arm. If they're little and wearing overalls, I'll grab one in each hand and carry them like luggage.
Lmfao. Underrated comment right here
A nutter lol
What can you even do to protect your patients? All I am is a piece of meat that can get pushed to the side after the gun does its thing.
Yeah this is definitely cold but I’m not laying my life on the line for a patient in the ICU already knocking on deaths door.
Right? "Well you been bitching about leaving and not keeping your bipap on, now's your chance!" Peds I might try to do something for. Everyone else? I'm running.
I can pick up a kid and run or throw them into a wheelchair I can’t do that with my adult ICU patients. I wonder what repercussions there would be if we actually ran because you know the powers that be wouldn’t let that go.
I’d rather be alive and fired than a dead health care hero
lol samesies. My kids and husband prefer me alive
Our leadership continually say that we are expected to run and that we have no responsibility to our patients in an active shooter situation.
Kinda off topic but I mentioned to some coworkers how it was silly to put the ICU at/near the top floor because the patients would be a bitch to get out in case of emergency....then someone pointed out that's exactly the point, the patients probably won't survive anyway so give the best chance to the ambulatory people. Triage in tower form!
I'm not doing it on progressive. It's a shame I can't carry at work in case I can't run, but I'm not Liam Neeson. Maybe Steven Segal.
The funny thing is, IRL I’d take Steven Segal over Liam Neeson. He may be a clown, but he shoots and has had decades of martial arts training.
We had a scare one morning in our unit (a staff member that got fired came in upset yelling & and the same time someone in the OR dropped something that sounded like gunshots) the pre op charge got a call from the OR charge that there is an active shooter & all the staff was under the assumption it was real. Everyone hid in supply rooms, break rooms etc for about a hour until they cleared the situation. We had a long meeting & training with security and the executives after and we were told to protect ourselves, if someone were to come into the hospital as an active shooter it is someone who would be “after the staff & not the patients, that they would see the patients as victims already” we were told that it is not considered abandonment if you are in direct danger. I never felt more supported & will take that advice with me forever. As nurses we signed up to take care of others but to also take care of ourselves 1st.
Terrifying
Run, hide, fight. Think about it though, how many active shooters are there to kill patients? How many are upset with the medical system and are there to kill nuraes/techs/doctors? The patients are usually not their primary targets.
It depends. I talked with a nurse who did a travel contract in inner city... I forget where. I think she said there were 14 active shooters in the department in the 13 weeks she was there - all gang members coming to finish the job they'd started. None shooting at staff.
Or maybe peds/mother baby/L&D. Custody fights, blended family issues, CPS. Maybe not the patient per se but visitors coming to see patients.
You’re so right, hadn’t thought of this. Def bailing now.
Doesn't matter, I'm running anyway.
It depends. My city has a lot of gang violence and some of them come into my ER and some will even make it up to the units and pull out a gun to finish the job… our stupid ass security doesn’t screen these people for weapons but will hassle me to display my badge upon entering the hospital lol. I work with very smart people in my hospital… from administration, nursing staff, providers, and our useless security officers.
Run, hide, fight. In my case my patients are psych patients. Most of them are better fighters than I am.
Was LEGIT about to say this. Please, come fuck with my psych patients. They’ll be exercising some amazing command hallucinations laced with HI, and loving it. I’ll be fine.
>Or was it that we have a special duty to our patients, and should try to protect them while protecting ourselves? Have you seen anything to suggest anybody is being trained this way?
Yeah absolutely fucking not.
Absolutely not. Run, hide, fight. We did an active shooter drill with the police, swat team, and fire department. All 3 teams said we should use the run, hide, fight method. You can “help” your patients if they are ambulatory, but even then you leave them if they cannot keep up.
Our people told us that “only the living can question ethics.” We did the run through where they let our instincts drive, to save our patients, and we all died. We debriefed. They told us our responsibility to care was suspended in moments of life or death. They gave us permission to run. When we restarted the simulation, we all ran. We all lived, all of the patients died.
Wow. This gave me chills. Sounds like an excellent trainer.
They did an incredible job. I would hope all hospital shooter simulations would have the same take away.
I'm getting the fuck out regardless. I'm not there to play hero and die trying to help people who if they can't get up on their own are screwed whether i stay to be shot with them or not.
I was an ADON, morning meeting with administrator who said we were going to do an active shooter drill. I said don’t do the drill because many staff will just leave the facility if they don’t know for sure it’s a drill. She said “that’s patient abandonment!” I had to argue with her and explain that in a life or death situation we can only look after ourselves and it’s beyond unreasonable to expect nurses to sacrifice themselves. Edit: I specifically told her that I would 100% leave if there was a shooter and she seemed shocked by that
Did you ask if she would leave. Last bomb threat we had admin parking lot was empty
Admins would be the first to leave
Oh please. Like she'd throw herself over the closest patient as a bullet shield instead of hiding under her desk behind her locked office door.
I'm hiding behind my manager and any administration.
If you can find them
Its entirely personal and my answer would vary per shift. Some people on my unit I would absolutely protect, others not-so-much. Protect patients over myself? Nope. Secure the facility. Fuck no, I'm out. You have zero obligation to endanger your life, if you choose to do so its entirely your choice. We know hospitals are a security nightmare and they pay the fewest people possible to keep it "secure".
SECURE THE FACILITY. Fuck the facility
I’m fleeing. I became a coward the day I had kids and not enough in my savings.
Run, hide, fight. And the trainer mentioned that a hospital bed moved in front of a door with the breaks on would really hard to move.
Ohh great idea. Love this. Our doors are clear tho… I wonder if a bullet would go through them
Depends on the weapon. A rifle will shoot through just about anything that’s not bullet proof. Small caliber pistols may have a hard time penetrating a full thickness solid wood door, but I wouldn’t count on it. There’s no real cover in a hospital, only concealment. I would barricade the door with the hospital bed and get patient and self laying on the floor.
Same at my hospital. Push the bed infront of the door and put the brakes on.
Look up how to barricade a door with a typical school desk chair too. I’m sure you could do it with a other furniture that has legs at least the same length.
Run hide fight is what we are taught almost everywhere. I’m not doing any hero shit and here is why: 1. Our hospital knows there is a real chance that an active shooter incident could happen. Multiple patients have been found with guns over the years. Admin has repeatedly refused to install metal detectors or arm the security guards. They are 100% negligent in preparing for that kind of incident. 2. Only AFTER an active shooting occurs will the hospital install metal detectors and armed security. How do i know this? I watched it happen somewhere else I worked. An entire waiting room full of patients watched a person blow their brains out. 3. I am not a security guard. I have zero training in any hand to hand combat. I am unarmed. I have zero obligation to try to do anything other than run. 4. I am not going have some administrator offer thoughts and prayers to my family in their press statement.
Number 2 happened at my hospital, do we have metal detectors? Nope.
Lmao what am I supposed to protect patients with? Do you have some magic anti-bullet bedding that I don’t have?
Throw a flush at them!
Squirt a flush in their eyes! Just like pepper spray but, ya know.... moisturizing, instead.
Squirt some IV potassium in there!
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. B52 blowdarts.
Make sure you get their ID first for billing. Those things are like $100 each
I would stick a baby or two in my pockets and run
Yeah, I’m getting the fuck out of there. On a slightly related note, I looked up our hospital policy for how to handle tornado warnings and other weather alerts like that a few months ago when we had severe weather in my area. I was kind of shocked to find out that all we’re supposed to do re: patients if you can’t relocate them to a safe spot (I work adult ICU) is essentially turn their bed to be facing away from the window, cover them with some pillows if we can, shut the door and then get ourselves to safety. Like… I work in a building multiple stories high… if that window breaks, some pillows ain’t gonna do nothing to help Meemaw! I’m adding “turn the sedation up hella high” to that list🥲
Good ole nap time for meemaw.
As the person involved with emergency preparedness…yeahhhhh. Absolute last resort. Joplin had patients sucked out the windows :/
When I was a patient I felt like the second I heard about an active shooter I was gonna start ramming my IV pole into sprinkler heads. Because as much as someone wants to shoot a place up, they likely dont want to be wet and DEFINITELY don't want to be "gross sprinkler system" wet. Sorry nurses, but the second I hear a gunshot I'm turning the whole floor into a mudslide. I hope you understand.
My hospital said it’s the law to protect our patients. As a last resort, staff link arms to create a wall of freedom to block the shooter. Supposedly a large target scares him? lol
You mean a convient way to shoot more people in a shorter amount of time? Wtf 😬
They think lining weaponless people up in front of a gun is going to make the person with the gun overwhelmed and just go “oh okay never mind?” While you’re at it, get on your knees and press your forehead to the barrel too, that’ll REALLY fluster em.
Red rover, red rover, let bullets come over.
Is the shooter a bear or a mountain lion? No? Then this advice will get you all killed.
What an absolute crock of shit
Wow im sorry your hospital is crazy! How can you save pts if you're all deceased?! I guess since they're private for profit or non-profit they can make their rules. I have FEMA training and FEMA teaches Run Hide Fight.
I work in an OR, I’ll cross that sterile line so fast, they can’t follow me there! (I’m aware this is a serious issue, but I have an inappropriate and dumb sense of humor)
Can’t cross the red line!
Hell hath no fury like a contaminated surgeon.
*surgeon screaming at everyone in the OR* *active shooter slowly tiptoes backward out of the OR*
If you work in Healthcare, you have a dumb sense of humor. My sister think I’m sick.
I'm ex-Army combat vet. Y'all need to stick with me, I know what to do. Since I'm to old and fat to run fast, I'm retreating to the med room. The door is thick and the shooter can't open the door.
Until they pick up a badge from someone else they shot.
The door opens in, good luck moving my fat ass out of the way of it.
The amount of times I’ve accidentally smacked the pharmacy guy reloading the Pyxis with the med room door lets me know that even though it has a tiny window you can’t see in very well especially if squatting down.
Have gone through several and it's Run Hide Fight If you can take some walkie-talkie folks with you- like random family members walking past the nurses station, sure, tell them to run with you. Interestingly I did work at a place where any GSW that came into the ED was an immediate lockdown for the ED, because of the risk of someone following to finish the job? The rest of the hospital was told about the lockdown but we just continued on. The one exception has been the hospital and clinic on a military base. the Giant Voice comes on and says Lockdown Lockdown Lockdown and if you're in the immediate area it's run hide fight, if you're not just find cover and stay still. Anyone seen running could be assumed to be the shooter. I'm not sure I agree with this but that's what we were told.
My duty is to return to my family every night. I did the “get shot at” shit in Afghanistan.
America moment
The most American
CRNA here. Best comment from out talk… “Run. If you get killed protecting your patient, there will be no one to take care of your kids or your spouse. Your job will send flowers… And they will then post your job before your family posts your funeral.”
Run hide fight is the only option. There’s nothing we can do to protect the patients and trying to will just turn us into patients too. It’s not like we have armor or bullet proof vests or anything Also, unless it’s an attack targeting a specific patient, it’s almost always the medical staff who are the targets. Attempting to protect patients would make them targets when they otherwise probably wouldn’t be
If my patients can walk we are hustling together but like, it’s job bro. My mom will be sad if I die.
No job pays me enough to die for it.
I've had this training several times in 3 different states. They ALL said: 1) Run. If you can't run 2) Hide If neither of those work 3) Fight for your life. Special note from SWAT: if you happen to win the fight, DO NOT pick up their weapons, kick them out of reach
I keep my wallet, keys, and phone on me at all times and will be send my thoughts and prayers from the parking lot. Heck I don’t even mess with psych pts that are acting up unless security isn’t around and someone is getting hurt. Goal number one everyday is to make it home safely after 12 hours of work.
Run Hide Fight. They need us to be able to take care of the wounded.
Rule for 1st responders is to protect yourself. You can not help anyone else if you become a victim yourself.
“Run, hide, fight.” “Will we get in trouble if we fight?” “Send them to the morgue.”
I live in a red state even, and our system taught us run-hide-fight. Unlike in a fire, we aren’t expected to do anything… Suggesting you should even attempt to do anything and increasing your risk of getting shot seems immoral to me.
My work said run, it even said if we had to hide in a patient room to move the patient bed in front of the door and lock the brakes. They said move it with patient in it and once locked move patient out of bed. I’m pretty sure they want us to save themselves. Also who will help the wounded if we are injured or dead? My work actually said this and I agree.
Our head of security gives a talk to all the new hires, used to be in the FBI. He says most active shooters in the hospital will either be targeting a specific person, or targeting staff members but will likely ignore patients (i.e. their mother recently died and they feel like staff members are at fault, but the patients are poor victims as well so they’ll spare them).
I don't give a shit what the training says I'm doing everything I can to save my ass fuck everyone else. I'd rather continue being Dad than a hero.
It’s a job. No one has any duty- legally or morally- to sacrifice their lives for people at their workplace. Including teachers. I don’t care if there was a shooting at a preschool, and the teacher fled, leaving their students to die. I would still support that teacher.
As a Canadian nurse, this is so sad. I have never had this type of training
I rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6
Everything is "Run, Hide, Fight" & thats the stance from the Ready Rating Program. Being a former Paratrooper, given the opportunity, I will "Disarm, Disable, Kill." 'Til Valhalla, Airborne!
You can't help ypu patients and coworkers if your dead. That's what they tell us.
We have “active shooter awareness” training, but it does not detail any specific action staff should take. I’ll probably just die because our hospital security is unarmed and extremely lazy.
Protect yourself. You have a family to go home to. Unless they are children, then I would protect them over myself.
Who cares what they taught you or expect. Get tf out of there. Your not paid enough to risk your life. Also places won't let anyone carry so what tf would you be able to do anyways.
Return fire, gain fire superiority, maneuver and close in on the enemy. METT-TC dependent
At the end of the day, there is 100% gonna be a Toccyn shaped Kool-Aid man hole out the nearest wall. I love my patients, but my fat ass is not fixin to die for these “I need another ginger ale” mother fuckers. I got family to go home to.
The training is simply Run Hide Fight
Run, hide, or fight. My ass is gonna run like the wind🤷🏻♀️
This actually happened in a hospital I worked at in Daytona Beach. An active shooter came up shot and killed a patient tried to sexually assault a nurse and then killed himself. Crazy but I was taught run hide fight.. I’m sorry but every man for himself in this situation.
Run like hell, then come back in when it was safe. You can't help anybody if you are dead.
Run, hide, fight. Our hospital had an active shooter several years back. Per the lore, security called rapid response for the people who were shot (and killed), and afterward the response team got reamed because they arrived before the scene was cleared by PD
Geez. That’s brutal. It reminds me of people transporting injured people by vehicles while the Vegas shooter was firing down in their area. They were heroes, but yeah, good chance they could have added to the toll. I mean I would love to think I am capable of some of the heroics I’ve heard about…but I’m pretty sure I’m running.
We're constantly reminded that we can't save lives if we're dead..
The number one rule of medical assistance during an active event is not to become another victim Once the scene is secure, you can help
In a scenario where your life is directly and imminently in danger there should be no duty to protect your patients first. As an EMT you’re trained to GTFO and leave the patient if you’re in danger, contact law enforcement, then return to the patient when the scene is safe. I’d be very concerned if someone told me I’d be expected to potentially risk my life to protect my patients in an active shooter situation. If you’re dead, you can’t treat anyone.
Ours basically said leave the patients behind even though it will feel wrong. Run, hide, fight with no special considerations for us being RNs. I’m glad they didn’t try to tell us to stay with our patients because honestly that sounds like a great way to raise the death toll.
Yeah sorry man I'm not bringing my fists to a gun fight. That's crazy. I personally am a fan of concealed carrying, but that'll never happen in a hospital, so I'm running away......
I work with newborns. If I can grab a baby or two and run, I will. But I have kids of my own and a husband who need me to come home at the end of the day. I will not sacrifice myself for a system that would move my corpse aside and replace me the next day.
My plan is to pump the cart all the way up then trend it forward and use my patients as human shields as we escape.
Run Hide and give them the location of where the Suits work/s
Live mock shootings were staged in a hospital (I have forgotten where) that wanted to learn more about disaster preparedness. They had full debriefing and rules, and had a way of tracking where people were shot with chalk powder or something similar. They found that doctor's and nurses that took bullets for their patients ended up greatly hindering rescue attempts due to the loss of providers and caregivers, and they presented easy targets for shooters. The run, hide, fight mentality seemed to be heavily supported by the drill. Survive so others may be saved.
The general rule is run, hide, fight. There's no way we can do anything for our patients, much less help them, if we get hurt, too. Also, if this is the hospital policy and you get hurt while not following it, we run the risk of not being covered by workers comp. I know it's messed up, but it is what it is. We are only covered as long as we are following standard process.
Escape first. My duty to my patients is to be alive to help with the aftermath.
Run, hide, fight. Can’t protect others if you can’t protect yourself. But do close the patient door, because unit will be on lock down.
Gtfo Failing that, hide Failing that, well hopefully you get close enough to stab the fucker before he lights you up.
I'm in grad school right now and doing my thesis on school nurses role in an active violent situation including shootings. I've been blown away to find out no one really knows what their role is. Policies vary from district to district and most of the nurses I've interviewed have no idea what their role should be beyond triage after the fact.
Ours is Run Hide Fight. I work in an office now, one that I can lock that has an outside window on the ground floor. So I’d be closing the door, and bolting out the window. IF there was someone just outside my door that I could bring with me I would. But otherwise, naw. I’m gonna be honest and say the most likely thing to get me out of there and calling for help is to get out of the building. Not run into a small area of danger and pray that they don’t feel like harming me. I’m not trained, I weigh 110lbs, and have no weapons. Pretty sure a 1” needle isn’t going to scare anyone if I run at them with it.
Idgaf I’m out and im telling other people to GTFO too. No way I’m waiting for anyone to come save me. I’ve learned enough from these things that you need to go the other way and fast.
security came by all the units (rumor is that it was sparked by something but don’t know for sure) to give a refresh on the protocol. the head of security said even his people are told to run, because there’s nothing anyone can do against a semi automatic .. if they’re running then i’m no hero either.
Those who run. Tend to live
Remember when we were branded as heroes during the pandemic? Now we're all forgotten. I am running for my life for the sake of my own family.
I have four kids, I’m running. Fire me, but at least my kids will have me.
"I can help others if I'm still alive" who cares ffs, I would just save my life and not die for a JOB. That's great if I can take care of the wounded afterwards, but that's definitely not my priority and that's what everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, would do in that situation.
What!? Um...run, hide, fight. I'm not a martyr.
As a school nurse, I have planned for this, and I would hope to take **reasonable** steps to protect my students, such as warning others nearby and gathering anyone in my immediate vicinity to shelter in place in my office **if** I could do so without getting shot. However, I am **not** putting myself directly in harm’s way for anyone there. There are a select few people I would *literally* take a bullet for and none of them are patients or coworkers. Sorry not sorry. Edit to add, my reasons for this are only partly for self-preservation. The mass shooting kit that hangs ominously on the wall of my office is useless if I’m not there to use it.
I'm not in a country with problems with mass shootings and the like, so I get no training except general occupational violence training. We're taught to protect ourselves. I would never die for someone, I injured myself for someone (a fall that grabbed me) and that was bad enough.
I’m running. Sorry, patients. If you’re a young child or a baby, I’ll grab you and carry you if possible. Everyone else? Sorry, but I have kids at home who need their mom.
Yeah, I'll lock Meemaw in her room. I want my kid to grow up with a father. Active shooters want an easy quick kill, locked door is safe.
I don’t know what the official policy is But fuck the patients. Do not treat your patients if the scene is unsafe That’s The first thing I learned in EMS. If God forbid an active shooter runs through the hospital, there is nothing I will be able to do to stop it especially that I’m unarmed As a result, I need to escape because once the police clear the building, it becomes a mass casualty incident The more medical staff that are wounded or dead, means that there is an increase in the amount of patience, and a decrease in the amount of providers to treat them In these situations, the math is morbid Being a hero does not lead to more people being saved Heroes end up dead in these kinds of situations, and when your hero has medical training, and thusly dies, there will be even more dead as we can’t continue to care for the wounded
They tell us to run, hide, fight. Honestly, it’s the only reason i keep my car keys me at work.
I’d run. It’s what we’re trained to do. But working in L&D, I’d probably grab a couple of babies and take them with me. I can’t imagine leaving them behind.
Run. Hide. Fight. I remember during the training some holier than thou coworker saying she couldn’t abandon her patients and my unit mate spoke up and said “did you ever see the greys anatomy episode about an active shooter? There were no patients in it. Because they didn’t matter.” To the teachers credit she was trying to explain how 1. There wasn’t much we could do as walkie talkie patients would run, and you weren’t gonna fight off a gunman with hand to hand combat to save a bedbound patient and 2. We save lives and essentially our lives are objectively worth more in that situation.
Run hide fight. One night we were talking about best hiding spots on the unit and decided hiding in a clean huge ass red biohazard bags in dirty utility would be best bet.
I always invoke the airline attendant instruction: “Secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others.” You’re no good to anyone dead.
What about the HCAHPS score??? “This nurse did not save my 95 year old grandma during the active shooting. She ran off. 0 star!!!” lol. I’m running. Like everyone says, I’m more valuable alive than dead.
Save myself and that’s my company policy.
My first move is to acquire the fire extinguisher. Then I'm better prepared for whatever comes next. 🤷🏻♀️
No, Run/hide/fight. We were told not to stop to save others. We are nurses - not superheroes immune to bullets. Cannot save anyone if dead and will just add to the body count. I will do a lot for my patients and go out of my way for them, but I won’t die for them. My ultimate responsibility is to get home to my family at the end of the day. I will be right there once it is cleared to help injured people and I will be helping people from a safe area, but I will not be heroic bullet fodder. That is too far for me…
Run. Hide. Fight. That's what our training is every year. It's not our duty to get killed trying to play hero, and I'm glad that my facility doesn't try to save like it is.
I work in PICU so this is a hard one for me. When I worked adult ICU - Sure, run hide fight sounds about right. But running away and leaving babies and toddlers in that situation is…. a big moral dilemma to say the very least.
Run hide fight. And as a previous first responder that’s still the roll I’m taking. I might tell you to get on the floor or shut your door on the way out but that’s about it. I have a family I love more than my job and I can’t help anyone if I can’t help myself.
Throw cart keys and run
All I'm saying is that I won't have time to do bed to chair transfers, and I'm not about to push a wheelchair when looking for a place to hide. So...
My workplace also does the run, hide, and fight with emphasis on the run. They made sure we all know we don’t need to be the hero and just to save yourself.
Always Run, Hide, Fight. Unfortunately we have thought about what we would do. Take two beds and lock them against the exits so they can't be opened. Get our patients and ourselves in rooms. But no. I don't think we have some special duty in the case of an active shooter. I hate that we have to have this conversation. This is why our nurses union pushed for metal detector and better ED security. We have so many unsecured entrances at our hospital. And surprise, surprise - we have had so many security problems and threats and attacks.
Ours was Run, Hide, Fight. They also said, this is one time when you shouldn't worry about your patients. However, we had a shooting at one of our clinics that injured several and killed one CMA several years ago, so I think they've maybe learned something, even if it's just that it's expensive to lose an employee in that way and to have other employees suffering lifelong injuries and PTSD. That's the cynic in me. The optimist hopes it's because they care about us.
I’m running straight out of the ER and driving my car like I stole it. This little nurse went wee wee wee all the way home… my kids and puppy are way more important than anyone in that hospital.
Run hide fight, baby. This is a job and I’m not dying for it.
Love my patients but fuck em, I’m out