by
Heather Mayer, DOTmed News Reporter | August 19, 2010
ANA's Hughes feels there should be training, so nurses can recognize when a situation may be escalating into dangerous territory. According to an ENA survey, 68 percent of nurses reported that training was not required for their ER department.
Casey recommends nurses take self-defense courses.
"Is it ever going to get to the point where we, as nurses, feel like we have to carry mace?" says Casey. "That we have to keep ourselves safe during our work hours? I don't feel safe going to work."
Casey is not alone. According to the ENA survey, 72 percent of ER nurses reported feeling unsafe in their workplace.
What needs to happen, nurses say, is for hospitals to follow OSHA guidelines, or even better, make those guidelines become federal standards. The ENA is in talks with OSHA's director about possibly making that dream a reality.
"OSHA has some guidelines, but we want to see them as standards," says ENA's Gurney. "I'm thrilled [the director] agreed to meet with us."
Nursing organizations are
trying to get victims
to speak up.
Nurses also want their employers to implement a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to violence in the workplace.
"Perpetrators need to be prosecuted," Casey says. "It should be posted all over the hospital that violence is not tolerated. Violators will be prosecuted."
"I'd like to see a zero-tolerance policy developed," says Gurney. "That's going to start with changing the culture, even with nurses themselves, because a good number of them feel [violence] comes with the job. It's the whole culture that needs to be changed."
Why stay?
Alarming numbers indicate plenty of nurses don't want to put their safety at risk anymore and they leave their job or the profession altogether. A 2005 survey from the Maryland Nurses Association found that 18 percent of nurses said they left a job in fear of their safety, and 15 percent said they wanted to leave but hadn't yet. A 1999 survey found that 67 percent of nurses no longer worked in the ER due to violence.
But many nurses stay.
"Why stay?" Casey says. "Do I have thoughts of leaving? Absolutely. But you know there is that person that is really ill and really needs your help and is really thankful. My decisions play a role in their outcome...You take the good with the bad."
