The presidents of the American Nurses Association, American College of Emergency Physicians and Emergency Nurses Associations urged lawmakers to pass two bills aimed at strengthening workplace safety protections for healthcare workers during a congressional briefing March 22.
The groups called on Congress to pass the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a workplace violence prevention standard. Through that standard, employers within the healthcare and social service sectors, including hospitals, would be required to develop and implement a violence prevention plan.
The trio also pressed lawmakers to pass the Safety From Violence for Healthcare Employees Act, a bill modeled after protections for workers in the airline industry that would criminalize the assault or intimidation of hospital employees.
In recent months, calls from healthcare workers for federal action to be taken on workplace violence have intensified. During the March 22 hearing, the three professional medical association representatives cited a growing body of data that demonstrates the toll violence takes on the nation's healthcare system, such as the rate of serious injuries tied to workplace violence being six times higher for hospital workers compared to all other private sector employees in the country.
"It's the employer's responsibility to ensure workplace safety and security, but sadly in many healthcare settings nurses are still experiencing violence at alarming rates," said Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, RN, ANA president. "Too many of my fellow nurses' lives have already been lost to workplace violence. We need to act now to break the deadly cycle of violence against healthcare professionals. And these bills that we are currently supporting in Congress is a step in that direction."
Increasingly, clinicians are indicating they're willing to exit or change jobs because of violent and aggressive behavior they experience on the job.