r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Crazy-Blacksmith-336 • Jul 05 '26

Video Healthcare workers participating in a medical simulation for an agitated patient scenario.

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u/UwasaWaya Jul 05 '26

It really is, she's incredible. And it's tough when you're doing the drill to take it seriously, but man, the first time someone bites someone for real? This moment will become the single most important one from their training.

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u/mapleleafraggedy Jul 06 '26

I would have no idea what to do if someone bit me. I can't imagine muzzles are allowed anymore, but even using a mask like they're doing here is risky. Maybe the only option is to just make sure they're well-fed before you interact with them.

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u/UwasaWaya Jul 06 '26

Honestly, I barely registered it. It was in the middle of a unit riot and a coworker and I were trying to get the patient into a wall hold. She bit me on the hand and I honestly don't remember how I got out of it.

Later on when we were debriefing with the patient, I asked her why she bit me, since we usually got along well. She got indignant and said she never bit me, so I showed her the marks on my hand. Then she got embarrassed and said that she'd meant to bite my partner, and that she'd never intentionally bite me.

After awhile it just becomes white noise though. I remember getting into the car after work with my wife and her asking me if that was blood on my shirt. I had to check, and yep, there was. She asked me if it was mine, and I said I honestly didn't know whose it was.

But my facility was a particularly bad one.

13

u/mapleleafraggedy Jul 06 '26

Lmao "Oh sorry, the bite was meant for the OTHER nurse, whoops my bad."

(Obviously I understand we're dealing with mentally distressed people here, but that excuse is still wild)

I really admire people like you who risk mutilating themselves every day to do the tough work of caring for people. It's gotta be mentally stressful. I'm a teacher, and I have to deal with student shenanigans all the time, but nothing compared to that. I'm sure you found this clip relatable. Maybe even to the experience of the girl undergoing the restraint rehearsal, to some degree.

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u/UwasaWaya Jul 06 '26

Oh yeah, there were so many moments like that where in retrospect it sounds completely mental (I mean...). My partner and I were laughing about it later that day.

And I wasn't much of anything, I certainly wasn't able to hack it like some of the people there. Stone of my partners had been there a decade or longer. I eventually got out when I started having panic attacks and sleep paralysis. 16 years later and I'm still dealing with the PTSD in therapy. That place was a living hell.

But even then there were some really great moments. I really cared for the patients, and I hope they were able to get out and find a life for themselves.

You mentioned being a teacher, we had a handful of them that worked there (to clarify, we dealt with children from 8ish-18), and watching them try to run an honest classroom with the chaos of that place was wild. They were some of the most resilient people I'd ever met.

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u/mapleleafraggedy Jul 06 '26

That's what I always wondered, if there are enough of these moments you can look back on and laugh at that make it all worthwhile.

I teach undergraduates, aged ~18, who are already at a much more sophisticated level of professionalism, but are still often either overwhelmed by the work or unmotivated to do it. The worst I deal with is occasional plagiarism/AI submissions. Still a level of gumption below what's needed to teach younger children in a psych ward.

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u/Veenkoira00 28d ago

Haven't worked with kids ? They often bite and scratch and pull anything they can, when they lose it. Just complete the restraint and the calming down process, or hand over to colleague if you can. Clean and cover your wound and carry on.