The BC Nurses’ Union is launching a new campaign calling to end workplace violence.
Over the past decade, Worksafe BC has accepted 9,231 injuries claims – nearly three a day – from healthcare and social service workers in the field.
Nurses want the government and health authorities to improve working conditions. Union President Gayle Duteil feels nurses deserve to be safe, just like other professions.
“Some of our senior nurses, I’ve been shocked at what their comments are. ‘Oh, it’s just part of the job’ and ‘they get used to the abuse and the injuries’ and it isn’t. It isn’t.”
Through the campaign, the Union is aiming to educate the public about the dangers nurses face and demand safer protocols and better communication, especially with community nurses.
“A police officer goes into a home and they have two-way communication. They are connected with their Department, they’re connected with their dispatch, a community nurse has none of that … these nurses are walking into somebody’s homes; they don’t know what’s behind that door, they don’t know who’s in that home, and there’s no checks and balances in place with respect to our community nurses.”
As well as these changes, the Union is demanding for hands-off approaches to violent situations, and stronger legal penalties for assailants.