Though St. Denis Medical is a comedy, it finds a way to touch on some serious issues within the Healthcare field, and that’s one of the reasons I enjoy it. Season 2, Episode 2, “Mama Bear Activated” dealt with the very real issue of violence against healthcare workers.
“Terror at St. Denis”
After Bruce shows up to work bloodied and bruised as a result of an incident that took place in the parking lot, the staff at St. Denis realizes they are not safe in the workplace. Alex points out that there have been a lot of incidents at St. Denis involving the staff and patients. Statistics have shown that Healthcare workers are 5x more likely to face violence in the workplace. She notes that a state bill was brought forward but failed. Because of this, she approaches Joyce to develop a plan to ensure the staff remain safe.
For Joyce, this seems easy and simple enough. Just get some security cameras fixed and install the proper measures to increase work safety. That’s until she realizes that safety is going to cost $200,000 to implement. Because apparently, safety isn’t in the budget (surprise, surprise), she decides to take matters into her own hands. This includes developing her own safety course to teach everyone things like the key method, and eating your own boogers to appear gross, which in her mind would deter any would-be abductor.
Alex is rightfully concerned with Joyce’s plan and her methods. To her, it should be a top priority to protect the staff. After all, they are risking their lives each and every single day. When working in healthcare, people don’t realize you are dealing with strangers. And with those strangers come behaviors you may not expect.
That is not to say that every patient you come in contact with means to do you harm. But work can be dangerous. Some patients or even their family members can be violent. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be physical violence. There’s also verbal abuse. Then, when you add in the fact that Healthcare workers put in long hours working from sunup to sundown, stepping outside can be dangerous because people can be unpredictable.
Unfortunately, the safety of the Healthcare worker isn’t often taken seriously, and St. Denis Medical Season 2, Episode 2 does a great job of showcasing this. When Alex doesn’t get the help she needs, she takes matters into her own hands and reaches out to a news station to do a story.
Now, while I did understand her frustration, I didn’t think this was a wise choice. First and foremost, she went over Joyce’s head to do this instead of going back to her office to address her concerns. And then it just backfired on her in a way that she didn’t plan for. Joyce did step in to diffuse the situation. However, even that didn’t feel like she was fully addressing the problem the way she should.
MORE: Read how Season 1 of St. Denis Medical ended in our season finale review!
Bruce Doesn’t Do Trauma
Bruce’s attack, which we later learned was of the avian kind, while silly in nature, did give us a glimpse into more of how he deals with trauma. Though it didn’t involve a patient, it sent him spiraling a little. He began to panic about his approach with his patients, and he was afraid of how they would react to things like needing surgery. Because of this, he chose to have Matt step in and be the bearer of the bad news to take the sting off of him.
Poor Matt is so naïve, so of course, he does what he’s told to. In some ways, this does also highlight the ways that Nurses often take on the hard tasks Doctors tend to avoid. Thankfully, nothing bad happens to him. At least not from the nurse-patient standpoint. What we’re learning about Bruce is that he’s always going to be extra about everything, and he’s still got a lot of growing to do.
St. Denis Medical airs Monday Nights at 8/7c on NBC.
