232807
233034

BC  

Violence not part of job

Contributed BCNU

During the 2017 provincial election, the B.C. Nurses Union launched a commercial campaign it called: Violence. Not Part of the Job.

One commercial hit close to home for Christine Sorensen, acting president of the BCNU.

In it, a woman's voice is heard speaking to a 911 dispatcher, "He's trying to kill me." 

The camera pans around a crime scene — the muffled sounds of a baby crying and of someone yelling can be heard in the background.

With panic in her voice, the woman says: "There's a gash on my forehead; it's really bleeding." 

The woman tells the dispatcher she is locked in the bathroom. The camera follows a trail of blood to a closed door. Again, the panicked voice calls out for help: "hurry, this door won't hold."

It is at that point the dispatcher asks: "Has your husband been violent with you before?"

The woman replies, "No, no, no. He's my patient's husband. I'm a community nurse."

A lot has changed in the 25 years since Sorensen began her career as a community nurse, but violence remains a threatening reality.

"That could have very easily been my situation. So many times I was in small communities; Clearwater, Vavenby or Blue River as a single nurse, 23 or 25 years old, way in the middle of nowhere." 

There have been times in her career when Sorensen has been the victim of violence. Every time she hears about a violent act against a nurse, she is reminded of the times she has been spit on, yelled at, hit or left worried for her own safety. 

"I think people believe that maybe it is only individuals with mental health issues or ... that have addictions," Sorenesen said. The reality is, "violence is quite widespread throughout the health-care system."

Sobering stats paint a disturbing picture.

The potential for violence adds to the stress level of an already demanding profession, explained Sorensen.

"(Many) nurses worry every day that they go to work. Will I come home? Will I come home in one piece? Will I be injured at work and be unable to perform my job for the rest of my career? And that is a reality for nurses." 

  • During the past decade, 40 per cent of workplace injuries sustained by nurses occurred as a result of violence. Security and law enforcement workers followed at 14 per cent.
  • Over the last decade, patients or residents of health-care facilities have been the main source of injury for 70 per cent of all acts of workplace violence within the sector.
  • From 2006 to 2015, nurses experienced approximately 2,800 time-loss injuries from violence. That is 26 nurses per month suffering a violent injury at work.
  • Between 2006 and 2015, the health-care and social services sector accounted for 61 per cent of violence-related claims. Those 9,231 accepted claims equate to almost three claims per day.

"What nurses were experiencing was not appropriate in the health care system, and they had begun to normalize the violence they were experiencing," explained Sorensen.

Nurses provide care when people are at their most vulnerable.

During the BCNU campaign, the union approached every candidate running in the provincial election and asked them to sign a pledge to reduce violence in health care. 

"I'm pleased to say around two-thirds of the current sitting legislature has signed," said Sorensen.

The BCNU wants to be added to a private member’s bill based on the presumption that PTSD and mental health diagnosis are a work-based causality for occupations involving frequent exposure to trauma. If added, it could mean that nurses would not have to prove to the Workers’ Compensation Board that PTSD and mental health claims are due their work. 

"Nurses suffer a lot of post-traumatic stress related to the work they do," explained Sorensen. "We see that; we know it is on the rise. We know that nurses carry guilt with them, trauma-related to what they have been exposed to. Trying to figure out how to process what they have been exposed to is very difficult."

The BCNU is the first health-care union in Canada to implement the CSA standard for psychological health and safety in the workplace. It has been embedded in its collective agreement. 

"We have language within the agreement that requires the employer to implement critical incident stress debriefing. So if there has been a very traumatic event, people are brought in and a debriefing takes place so that nurses can get help to process what has just happened." 

"When nurses go home and talk about their work with family, they say: it was fine; it was a good day; it was busy.... You do your job, and at the end of the day, you hope you get out. My job is to care for the patient."

Part Three of Front-line Frequencies, we look to the BC Emergency Health Services and Glenn Braithwaite who represents B.C. ambulance paramedics. 



More BC News



231274