Recent violent incidents at Abbotsford Regional Hospital have placed it among four health facilities in B.C. that will be examined for ways to improve the safety of health care workers.
The BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) president Gayle Duteil said that following negotiations with the Ministry of Health over the last few weeks, both organizations, with the involvement of health authorities, will be looking at ways to address ongoing violence against nurses and improve safety.
Duteil said the BCNU is pleased with the government’s commitment to making nurses safer.
The ministry has agreed to start with four facilities of the 12 suggested by the BCNU – Abbotsford Regional Hospital, the Forensic Psychiatric Unit in Port Coquitlam, Hillside Centre in Kamloops, and Seven Oaks Tertiary Mental Health in Victoria – and make improvements a priority as part of an overall violence prevention action plan.
Duteil said Abbotsford was a priority due to a number of recent violent incidents involving patients attacking nurses, as well as a number of dangerous weapons that have been seized there.
“We believe that Abbotsford has a level of violence against health care professionals that can’t be continued,” said Duteil.
According to a ministry statement, facilities such as psychiatric units experience greater challenges when it comes to workplace violence because they treat some of the most complex, and sometimes unpredictable, patients.
In Abbotsford, the focus will be on the psychiatric and emergency areas of the hospital.
Ministry and health authority staff, with BCNU, will meet with management and frontline workers at each of the sites to canvass their ideas and learn what staff think needs to be done, said Duteil.
The ministry said it will work with the BCNU, other unions and stakeholders to identify further sites and finalize next steps by summer.
Duteil said any changes can’t come soon enough for nurses working on the front lines.
“Nurses put themselves at risk every day while trying to provide safe patient care. Many violent attacks could be prevented by increasing safety officers, providing personal alarms, specialized training and appropriate staffing for patients’ care needs, especially those who are aggressive or violent.”
Abbotsford Regional Hospital recently was staffed with an additional security guard, less than two weeks after a nurse was injured in an unprovoked attack in early March.
A 39-year-old nurse was attacked by a 23-year-old man who was in the emergency department for medical and mental health treatment. The nurse had cuts above and below his eye and required stitches. The man was charged with assault causing bodily harm in relation to the incident.