What did we learn from Alex Wubbels?
If you are a nurse and you are paying attention, you have seen the video of Alex Wubbels RN, super nurse hero, getting assaulted and handcuffed by a bully cop. Now I don’t hate cops. In fact I have loved a number of them in my lifetime. I had a favorite uncle who was a cop. I had cops help me when I worked as an ER nurse. Cops have stopped at traffic accidents that I have stopped at and helped tremendously. Cops do dangerous and difficult work on a daily basis, but it does not put them on a pedestal. They are not allowed to make up the law as they go along and they cannot harass and assault innocent citizens “just because”. The cop in this video was a bully and a jerk. If he had half the professionalism that Alex Wubbels had, this would not have happened.
What have we learned from what happened to Alex?
1. Nurses MUST know their hospital policy about patient’s rights to safety and privacy. Without that, you don’t have a leg to stand on. You can’t just say NO because something doesn’t feel right. Patients, when you are alert and able, you should also know your rights.
2. If you are being assaulted by ANYONE, yell and scream and object loudly. Not that this did Alex any good at all. I think her coworkers and the hospital security in this video were dumbfounded and maybe did not dare to step in. I’m giving them a lot of credit here, because I think they should have stood around their coworker while someone called administration AND the police chief. Of course I wasn’t’ there, and I am just a distant observer. I have to ask…would that cop have done this to a man? (makes the cop even more of a jerk in my eyes)
3. Keep saying “I have done nothing wrong”. She did this and she was right.
4. Make sure your administration has your back. NEVER EVER face off with a cop especially one that is like the one in the video, on your own. Have your administrative back up right there, not on a speaker phone. Just as when facing a violent patient, a cop can turn. This cop turned.
5. Allow the aftermath process to take it’s course. Alex is doing that. She is incredibly wise and patient. She has accepted the apologies of the Salt Lake City mayor and police chief. There is an internal and a criminal investigation now. She will not say she wants that cop fired (like I have said repeatedly to anyone who will listen to me). She is waiting until the process is finished, and in the meantime she has left all of her personal options on the table, like legal action. She is a very smart and generous person. I want her for my nurse if I am ever sick in SLC.
6. She is using her personal and traumatic experience to help teach other nurses and police about the rights of patients and and about the hospitals policies regarding that. Alex has a lot to teach them.
7. Nurses are like protective mothers in the wild guarding their young…don’t threaten a vulnerable, and in this case unconscious patient on their watch, because they can and will take you down (unless all the proper paperwork and policies are in order of course).
8. Nurses stick together and they will fight as a pack against injustices and bullies. Nurses will generally come out on top, because they know what they are doing and they are by in large very responsible and respectable people. Alex has every staff nurse in the country (who has seen this video) on her side. My bet is that this exact issue will be reviewed in every hospital in the country.
9. Stay calm in the face of craziness….Alex did this. She never raised her voice (until she was assaulted). She was respectful and organized. She presented the necessary policies verbally and in writing. to the cop in writing. She got her supervisor on the phone (although he should have been there beside her). She did not disrespect anyone. She rightfully protected her unknowing, unconscious patient by being his voice and advocate. She didn’t expect anything from anyone other than mutual respect.
10. Alex taught us what herosim is. She is an excellent example of nurse strength and courage.
Nurses encounter crazy business every day they go to work.It can come out of the blue, just like this cop did. It can come from a patient, a visitor, a doctor, a boss, or another coworker. Nobody expects it to come from a public servant, like a cop.
Appreciate your nurses because they will always have your back. As patients, we should all be so lucky as to have a nurse like Alex Wubbels.
