[19F] Sexually harassed by an older nurse during my clinical rotation. He did it basically in front of a doctor. I’m furious and panicked, what should I do?
Hey everyone, I really need some advice.
I’m a nursing student currently doing my clinical rotations. Today, the outpatient clinic nurse told me to come with him to shadow him. I agreed because, obviously, I’m here to learn. When we first met, he was already overly touchy—he gave me a kiss on the cheek as a greeting, which I thought was weird, but I brushed it off as him just being an overly "extroverted" or eccentric person, since he also does this with every other student.
Then we went into the clinic room. The doctor was in the room as well. The nurse started commenting on my eyes and how beautiful I am. We were sitting down, and he put his arm around my chair. We talk and talk, he starts touching 'my veins', but it started feeling a bit weird since his fingers started touching under my shirt arm. Out of nowhere, he suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace and bit/kissed my neck. I immediately pulled away. I froze and stayed silent because I was in total shock and panic (unfortunately, I’ve been through similar trauma in the past).
Immediately after, he pretended he dropped his scissors behind him and asked me to pick them up. When I bent down to get them, he reached out with his index finger and deliberately touched my breast. Right after, he put his finger to his lips and went "shh."
I need to clarify that while the doctor was physically in the room, his back was turned the entire time. The nurse did the neck-biting and the breast thing completely stealthily, knowing the doctor couldn’t see. This guy has been in this department for yearss, and he clearly knows exactly where the blind spots and lack of security cameras are.
The doctor went out to have his pause and I too decided to go away, because I wasn't going to be alone with this fucking creep and while the door was FULLY open and patients were outside he stopped me and started saying shit like: "Understand me, but you are just irresistible. I want to hold you in my arms,", "You're like a piece of delicate cake and I just want to" and he made a biting motion with his mouth again. I was so angry that I just sarcastically responded, "Ah yes, yes, obviously." and went away to my department.
Shortly after, I went out of it to have a cigarette and clear my head. He was outside the door and I asked him where he usually smokes, since I know he does and he gave me the answer which was well right next to me (the outdoor metal staircases). He followed me out there too. He started saying, "You have such a beautiful chest", " You're so gorgeous...", "What am I going to do with you?". And I just went out...
This guy is 50-60 years old. I feel disgusted. I'm mad. I'm mad as fuck.
I wanted to talk with the nurse in the department and I asked her to come with me to the kitchen to drink a coffee, but when we got there there were two girls (also students) in there and she was like "Oh you can be with them!!".
I talked with two girls from the second year (I'm in first) and I told them about this and they were like - " Yeah, we've been here since april and yeah he's affective with us too, liking hugging us... But that's it, he never did any of that to us or other students that have been here as far as we know." And... That's it? I went away as soon as I could and changed while waiting for my friend that is in another department and I was on the verge of a panic attack. I felt and feel like shit. I talked about this with some classmates from my uni, since we also had an exam later, but I really don't know what to do. For now, I just started documenting the hour when it happend, his name and the name of the doctor that was there + all the things he told me and did to me.
I really don't want to leave this department because the other nurses here are amazing and I'm learning a lot, but I am terrified and disgusted. What should my next steps be? How do I report this without ruining my clinical rotations which I'm very pleased with? Also I'm in Italy and the healthcare system, atleast the hospital I'm in, is pretty corrupt. So I'm extremely lost.