HSA asking tough questions about recent attacks on RPNs
On Monday, the Vancouver Sun devoted front-page coverage to HSA's efforts to stop attacks on RPNs:
Abbotsford Regional Hospital has experienced 62 acts of violence against staff between 2008 and March 2015. That's when a nurse was savagely beaten in the ER, generating provincial media coverage.
Fraser Health Authority responded with a review that led, in July 2015, to a series of 29 recommendations by an outside consultant. They were good recommendations. Problem is, many still haven't been fully implemented, and health care workers are still at risk. In the last few weeks alone, three RPNs were assaulted.
Meanwhile, days after an ARH RPN was assaulted on October 17, Fraser Health representatives traveled to Dublin to present a paper on the ARH violence prevention program at the fifth International Conference on Violence in the Health Care Sector.
Thanks to the work of our OHS team, HSA has managed to get the media to give prominent coverage to HSA's work on this issue, and ask the Fraser Health Authority some tough questions about safety.
These efforts will help make sure RPNs at ARH and health workers around BC are likely to see quicker results on making their workplaces safer.