Patients and visitors make their way into UNC Hospitals, passing a banner announcing the facility’s top safety grade from The Leapfrog Group, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo by Jinrui Liu
Audio by Jinrui Liu
Mel (worked in a North Carolina ER for five of the roughly 12 years she’s been a nurse): I feel like when I go to work, I have to like getting ready for war
Narrator: That’s how Mel a North Carolina er nurse describes her 12 years in the field
Mel: All right, who’s gonna fight today you know I kind of think. I have had so many shifts where I’ve been on where coworkers have gotten punched or kicked or spat on. She discharged this patient, and he punched her in the stomach and she went into preterm labor.
Narrator: In North Carolina, nearly half of nurses report witnessing violence on the job. More than a quarter say they’ve been victims themselves, and the problem experts warn is getting worse. In 2023, lawmakers passed a Bill requiring round-the-clock police presence at hospitals with ER’s security risk assessments, violence prevention training and mandatory reporting of assaults.
Bonnie Meadows (president of the North Carolina Nurses Association): Everybody pretty much did whatever they wanted to do. They did their own risk assessment as far as what do we actually need. Most hospitals they may have had like their own security. They didn’t have the police. That’s different.
Mel: Where I was, we only had security, we did not have a police officer except I think at night there was one that sat up front. (One time,) the patient actually ended up running out of the emergency room, police had to be called. They found her in the parking lot, so I think police officer would be great because security, they’re hired by an outside group, so they’re not part of that hospital system, so they have their own rules. I think some of them can’t even lay their hands on a patient, so they can’t come and pull a patient off you. They can’t touch them, but police officers I think would be wonderful that would really help out the situation and at least just their presence too.
Narrator: Mel also says the mandated training program CPI felt inadequate.
Mel: The whole goal of this training is like if you’re trying to protect yourself, make sure you don’t hurt the patient. What about me? I’m a human too!
Narrator: Violence isn’t confined to the ER. For Carolyn Pascall, it happened on the med-surge floor.
Lexi Rumbaugh: So it’s a little scary hearing that, but I think I’m also like aware what I’m getting into, but I also think that it is sad that that is the case. Especially if there’s things that we could do to prevent that. Feel like the most important thing would be to like keep seeing the patient as a person and not just like someone attacking you.
Narrator: Violence against nurses is filling burnout and worsening the state’s nursing shortage. It was the reason why Mel left the er for good. This is Jinrui Liu reporting.
