Volume 6 Issue 7 July, 2016
It was an unconscious force that attracted me to Psychiatry. I never realized the gravity of this profession till
that day in CMC, Vellore.
I was a fresh junior resident then. It was a weekend. The Saturday OPD had ended and we were relaxing in
our rooms at PG hostel, after lunch. Around this time I received a call from the ward & was informed regarding an
inpatient’s violent behavior. I immediately rushed to the ward. I found that the nursing station was totally ransacked.
The medicine trays were thrown around. Glass bottles broken, BP apparatus broken and chairs pushed around. I
observed that ward staff and other patients were scared & were expecting this PG to take charge of the situation.
I felt that as a Psychiatric patient the agitated person was obliged to listen to me, a doctor. So, with all these
thoughts, I went to the patient’s room, which was in an isolated section.
I found a gigantic person who was thoroughly agitated. I, being a small built man went in front of him as a hero
and with threatening posture instructed him strictly to get back to his bed. Contrary to what I expected, I watched
him approaching me, with abusive language on his lips. After that moment I don’t recall what exactly happened. I
found myself about 10 feet away from him with a burning cheek and red eye. I realized that I had been slapped
by the patient & the impact of the hit had me standing several feet away from him. I had sub-conjunctival
hemorrhage. Watching the patient assaulting me, other staff and patients shed their fear & came to my rescue &
the patient was immediately over powered and tied up. Somebody had presence of mind to inform the next senior
person who immediately arrived at the scene. He supervised the patient’s physical and chemical restraint. He
also started clearing up the ransacked nursing station. Within 10-15 minutes, the situation was taken into control.
I started contemplating quitting Psychiatry but good counsel from seniors made me think otherwise. I decided
to stay back. Today I am a professor, I learnt a lesson not to try to be a hero with a violent patient. A violent
situation needs strategic and realistic management, not a hero.
Dr. Prashanth. N. R, Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, Bengaluru. Email: nrudraprashanth@yahoo.co.in
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