Nurses urge UC Davis Health to comply with law, develop plan to avert violence at work
Registered nurses rallied Tuesday evening outside at UC Davis Medical Center, calling upon the University of California’s health system to comply with state regulations and develop a comprehensive workplace violence prevention plan.
Nurses experience workplace violence at a much higher rate than employees in other industries, they said, and at the Sacramento-based medical center, nurses are demanding improvements such as increased security, prevention plans specific to each unit, and a greater voice in shaping and implementing prevention strategies.
“Nurses are often the first responders during violent situations at work,” said Megan Norman, who has worked as a registered nurse in UCDMC’s emergency department for four years. “Our department is constantly subjected to dangerous encounters. It’s important that nurses can go into work feeling secure enough to provide the type of care our patients deserve.”
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health set a deadline of April 1, 2018, for health care employers to have workplace violence prevention plans in place, but registered nurses at UCD, UCSF and UCLA, say they are still waiting.
UCD Health leaders issued a statement late Tuesday, saying: “The safety of our staff, patients, visitors and students is always a top priority at UC Davis Medical Center. We agree that preventing workplace violence is a critical issue for everyone, which is why we have been taking a number proactive measures to improve safety at our Sacramento campus.”
The university plans to continue expanding its security protocols, the statement noted, but it cited four steps that already have been taken:
▪ Increasing the security budget by at least 25 percent this year, allowing additional officers to be hired.
▪ Creating a separate space in the emergency department for patients who are in custody or deemed by law enforcement to be a potential danger to themselves or others.
▪ Implementing new safety protocols in the emergency department, including the use of handheld metal detectors to screen people for weapons as they are entering the area.
▪ Improved lighting and security in parking lots and providing safety escorts 24/7 to any employee who requests one.
This year, the union representing UCD nurses, the California Nurses Association, surveyed its membership on the issue of workplace violence. Of the more than 350 UC Davis nurses who responded, roughly two-thirds said they have experienced workplace violence at least once. About 16 percent of those asked said they had witnessed workplace violence.
More than half the nurses surveyed also said they did not feel safe in their designated parking areas, and 81 percent said no one interviewed all staff after an incident occurred to determine to assess safety protocols.
“We have asked UC to honor the law and implement procedures to address the marked increase in violence we all face at work,” said Melissa Johnson-Camacho, a registered nurse who has worked in UCD’s inpatient oncology unit for 11 years, one of 18 or so workers who rallied in the cold and dark. “We are here to demand that UC fully comply with the regulations to protect our patients and the nurses who have dedicated themselves to caring for the members of this community.”
The California Nurses Association shared 2018 statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that RN’s in private industry in the United States experienced a rate of 13.5 violence-related injuries per 10,000 full-time employees. That rate, union officials said, is more than three times higher than comparable injuries for workers overall in the same year.
At UCD Medical Center, the union represents roughly 2,800 nurse practitioners, registered nurses and certified registered nurse anesthetists.
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 8:36 AM.
