New calls for workplace protections in hospitals
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More reports of workplace violence in hospitals and clinics are reviving calls for a federal standard to protect nurses, social workers and others in medical settings.
Why it matters: Health care workers have been among the likeliest to experience threats or be assaulted on the job since the onset of the pandemic.
- But there's no nationwide requirement for health systems to keep violence prevention plans, train employees or inform them of their rights.
Driving the news: National Nurses United on Tuesday renewed calls for a Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard for health care and social service employers, as outlined in a pair of bills in Congress.
- The big nurses' union also released a survey of more than 1,200 of its members in which more than a third said they'd seen an increase in violent incidents in their unit in the previous year.
- 7 in 10 said they had been verbally threatened in the previous year. Nurses also reported frequent occurrences of physical violence, including being pinched, scratched, punched and kicked and having objects thrown at them.
Staffing shortages, delays in care and families' frustration with navigating the health system are frequently cited as reasons for violent incidents.
- The union said only 6 in 10 respondents to its survey said their employer investigates what happened after an incident.
Reality check: OSHA has estimated complying with a standard would cost in excess of $1 billion a year and extend beyond hospitals to home health, residential and behavioral care facilities.
- But assaults against health care workers are costing hospitals billions more in added security, training, workers' compensation and other expenses.
- The toll isn't just financial. Hospital administrators say the incidents contribute to burnout, staff turnover, legal concerns and negative public perceptions.
