The MUHC says it’s launched an investigation after a nurse was attacked over the weekend by a psychiatric patient in the emergency room of the Montreal General Hospital.
Since the incident, Fahey says the Montreal General has temporarily beefed up security to 24/7 in the unit.
He said it's hard to say whether having a security guard present at the time would have made a difference.
"The reality is the patient was psychotic at the time and the reasons why he committed this act of violence is difficult to assess at this stage," said Fahey.
For now, the MUHC said it will determine what measures need to be put in place in order to protect the staff and the patients.
Due to staff cuts to the ER and the removal of a security guard near the triage desk, the nurse was left to depend on what is called a "Code White" security protocol.
"It worked and we were able to neutralize the patient, but we will assess and do a full debriefing to identify what could be improved going forward," said Richard Fahey, MUHC’s communications director.
A couple of staff managed to restrain him and he was consequently arrested by police.
This was the second attack on a nurse at the Montreal General in less than a year.