The BC Nurses Union presented the Minister of Health with a petition in the form of postcards.
As part of BCNU's "Violence. It's not part of the job" campaign, 21 boxes, stuffed with 24,329 postcards from British Columbians, demand action be taken to reduce violence in the workplace.
Adrian Dix accepted the boxes today, saying he knows violence is a very serious concern for all health care workers. "People who work in health care, the BCNU, other health care professionals, other health care workers know, that it is particularly an issue in health care. And particularly important in at a time and at a place where we need to ensure the patients are safe, that workers are safe, that nurses are safe, that other professionals are safe, and we need to do more to do that."
Dix says they've worked on a lot of projects over the last few years to create safer work environments, but he is unsatisfied. "We can list the statistics all we want. I think the highest most vulnerable group of workers with respect to violence, are care aids and health care, in terms of per capita rates of violence. The largest number are nurses, because of the number of nurses in our system. The second highest, in terms of per capita rates of violence and people who suffer those rates of violence, are licensed practical nurses, the third highest are registered nurses. It's not the statistics that matter, because we know that every single one of those people are important, we need every one of those people as a health care system." He adds that they are also needed back home, as mothers and fathers, as brothers and sisters, and as sons and daughters.
President of the BCNU, Christine Sorensen, says this is a step in the right direction, but the government needs to start implementing changes immediately. She says that violence against health care workers, particularly nurses, continues to climb, and something needs to be done. Sorensen says "Nurses now are sworn at, pinched, hit, some are sexually assaulted, threatened, stalked, every day across BC, and this is just unacceptable. Nurses need to know that when they go to work, it will be safe for them and it will be safe for the patients, and they can go home in one piece."
She is calling on the government to create a safer work environment for nurses. "The government has within their power the ability to require every health authority provide protection securtiy officers in every emergency room across BC. That we could do as a starting point today. We certainly have to look at how we provide safe proctected patient care within our residential care units, but also for those nurses working in the community and in individuals homes. But at the very minimum, we ask that the government to ensure that every health authority bring in protection security officers into every emergency room."
Sorensen says nurses are showing up to work with cuts and bruises, broken teeth, black eyes, and other injuries they should be treating. She says having a safe work environment would help nurses do their jobs, and continue to treat patients in a professional manner.