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**Meth Blamed for ER Violence\--6/21/2004**

<http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0%2C1854%2C571872%2C00.html>

Hospital emergency rooms in North Dakota are reporting an increase in
violence by people who have been using drugs, particularly
methamphetamine, the [Associated
Press](http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2004/06/21/news/state/sta03.txt)
reported June 21.\
\
Officials said the trend is linked to alcohol and other drug misuse and
mental illness.\
\
\"We have definitely seen an increase in violent behavior in the ER in
the last year or so,\" said Jodi Baumgartner, a spokeswoman for the
emergency room at Innovis Health in Fargo, N.D.\
\
MeritCare Hospital, also in Fargo, reported similar drug-related
violence. Mary Jagim, a nurse who manages the emergency center, said
security officers are summoned at least once for every 50 patients
treated.\
\
\"The meth has really been a challenge,\" Jagim said. \"They\'re very
agitated. They don\'t want anybody touching them. They can be very
violent.\"\
\
In the past year, methamphetamine cases at the MeritCare Hospital
emergency room have more than doubled. In addition, the emergency room
is seeing more patients who have been drinking or have paranoid
schizophrenia.

**Tribune Online Archives**

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**Monday, June 21, 2004\
ERs see drugs leading to more violent outbursts**

[**http://www.bismarcktribune.com/30dayarchives/6-21-2004/sta03.html**](http://www.bismarcktribune.com/30dayarchives/6-21-2004/sta03.html)

**By the Associated Press**

**FARGO \-- Hospital emergency** **rooms** here are seeing more violent
outbursts from patients, a trend officials link to drug and alcohol
abuse and increased cases of mental illness.\
\
At MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, security officers are summoned an
average of once for every 50 patients, said Mary Jagim, a nurse who
manages the emergency center.\
\
Jagim said the reasons vary, but she points to substance abuse and
psychological problems.\
\
Methamphetamine cases at the emergency room have more than doubled in
the past year. Records also show more patients who have been drinking or
have paranoid schizophrenia.\
\
The emergency room at Fargo\'s Innovis Health also has noted an increase
in violent behavior, for the same reasons, officials said.\
\
\"We have definitely seen an increase in violent behavior in the ER in
the last year or so,\" said Jodi Baumgartner, an Innovis spokeswoman.\
\
The emergency room at Innovis used to go a week without a violent
incident. Now, it is typical to have several outbursts a week,
Baumgartner said.\
\
\"The meth has really been a challenge,\" Jagim said. \"They\'re very
agitated. They don\'t want anybody touching them. They can be very
violent.\"\
\
Violent patients \-- including those involved in fights or domestic
disputes \-- often are brought in with police escort handcuffed and
lying face down on a gurney.

Because physical restraints can fail, MeritCare emergency room Dr. Greg
Bjerke prefers to use fast-acting sedatives when agitated patients pose
a danger to themselves or others.\
\
\"We sedate them aggressively and then they go to sleep usually,\" he
said.\
\
The need for sedation could be reduced when isolation rooms become
available. MeritCare\'s emergency department hopes to add two safety
rooms next year.\
\
The emergency room, with its glaring lights, beeping monitors, needles
and invasive questions, may unnerve patients who are on edge
emotionally, workers said.\
\
\"What we do in the ER is pretty intrusive, drawing blood from them,
asking about their history,\" emergency room nurse Nate Tiedeman said.
\"I think they feel claustrophobic at times.\"\
\
Bjerke, who has been an emergency room physician for 22 years, tries to
catch a patient\'s aggression before it has a chance to escalate.\
\
\"You try to recognize that before it happens and deal with it,\" he
said. \"It can be very disruptive.\"\
\
Jagim recalls hearing police sirens while returning to work one day in
the MeritCare emergency room.\
\
When she arrived, Jagim saw found that a patient had pulled a knife and
a police officer had drawn his gun to subdue the man.\
\
The man with the knife apparently was paranoid \-- he thought the
officer, who was escorting another patient, was after him. Nobody was
hurt, but Jagim said her legs shook for the rest of her shift.\
\
Tiedeman, at 23, is a battle-hardened emergency room nurse.\
\
\"I\'ve been kicked, punched, bit, spit on multiple times,\" he said.