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On January 25th, NSNU president, Janet Hazelton joined Carmelle d’Entremont, VP of People and Organizational Development for the Nova Scotia Health Authority at a news conference to provide a progress report on recommendations made in the 2017 report,“Improving Workplace Safety in Nova Scotia’s Community Emergency Departments”. Co-chaired by Janet and Carmelle, the report was drafted by a working group convened in late 2016 to tackle the ongoing issue of violence in health care workplaces.
As some members may recall, the task force was struck in 2016 as the result of an incident in which a man brought weapons into a Middleton emergency department and threatened staff.
Since that time, well over 800 reports of violence in the workplace have been formally received by employers across the province; this number does not reflect the full scope of the problem as many incidents go unreported.
At the news conference, the co-chairs discussed the work that has been done to date, including the twelve recommendations, but also talked about the value of unions and employers working together toward common goals.
“We are pleased with the progress made on the recommendations and the commitment from NSHA to making our workplaces safe,”Janet said.“We all agree that there is still work to be done, and I look forward to the day when nurses, and other health care workers, can go to work and not be concerned about facing workplace violence.”
Much has been done to lay the groundwork for a safer health care system, including a more consistent, standardized approach to dealing with incidents systemwide.
Violence risk assessments and plans have been created for all 25 emergency departments across the province. As well, staff in higher-risk environments have been given communication devices they can use to alert co-workers that they’re in trouble. But more must be done to ensure that appropriate levels of security are accessible when help is needed, and there must be a cultural shift.
“The public must begin to understand that it is unacceptable, no matter how frustrated or stressed you become, to take your frustrations out on care providers, the very people who are trying to heal and help you or your loved one,”says Janet.“The public must come to terms with this in the same way that employers and workers are now saying, this is not part of the job.”
Work is in progress on implementing a system that will red flag potentially violent patients. That patient alert system will be piloted in emergency departments beginning this spring.
The NSNU would like to thank staffer Paul Curry for his work writing the report with others from within the committee.
A full progress report can be found on the NSHA website at www.nshealth.ca/nsha-workplace-safety-progressreport.
