Attempted behavioral break-out

I haven't been working as a volunteer in the emergency department for very long, but I am glad we are actually able to do something.  I have read about some volunteer assignments, even in emergency, that consist of sitting behind a desk and nothing more.  At my hospital, while I am certainly not doing anything glamorous, there is at least the ability to interact with patients.  Volunteers here relay questions from patients to nurses, clean and make beds, bring food and drink to patients, get pillows and blankets, etc.

The interaction with patients, while certainly not providing the ability to observe procedures that shadowing would, still allows us to see some interesting things.  My first volunteer day (after the "training" in which a long-time volunteer showed me what volunteers do and how) I heard yelling down the hall.  Running toward me was a gowned patient with a nurse chasing after her.  Just before they reached me the nurse caught and tackled the patient, and every nearby tech, nurse and doctor converged to subdue the woman and get her on a gurney in restraints.

It seems that when the nurse was exiting the "Behavioral" room, where the emergency department psychiatric patients are held, evaluated and treated before being admitted or discharged, the patient took advantage of the opened door to try to escape.  The door to this room has a code preventing the patients from escaping, so when the nurse opened the door, the patient hit her from behind to push past her and get away.  Her attempted escape earned her being tied to a gurney, probably some pharmaceutical sedation and the nurse threatening to prosecute her for a felony.  Always something interesting going on in the emergency department.