Washington nurses demand action over patient violence
After a wave of violence, nurses from Seattle Children’s Hospital have signed onto a letter, demanding help from management to mitigate issues ranging from violence against nurses to continued understaffing of the juvenile psychiatric unit.
In its statement, the Washington Nurses Association (WSNA) cites 15 incidents from September through November in which nurses have been injured, property was damaged, police were called to restrain patients or nurses were too few in number to manage patients in the unit. Further, the statement claims, security presence was lacking on multiple occasions despite the increase in incidents.
A total of 44 nurses from Seattle Children’s have signed onto a letter, which attributed the chaos to a “systemic crisis in pediatric mental health.” The WSNA said in its statement that patients have flipped nursing carts, wielded weapons, smashed windows and held a nurse in a chokehold. The nurses are demanding increased security, a higher nurse-to-patient ratio and increased overtime compensation.
The signees make up “almost every nurse on the unit, not including those who were on a leave of absence due to injuries sustained while at work,” the WSNA said.
“Staff work in a persistent state of fear as they come into each shift expecting violence and debilitating abuse,” the nurses wrote. “Patient care has been compromised to an extent that our milieu is no longer therapeutic, but rather dangerous and detrimental for all who enter the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit, staff and patients alike. The unfortunate reality of the unit is an exponentially increasing risk of a sentinel event if the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit is left to continue operating under its current conditions.”
The WSNA said a previous workplace violence complaint was filed in June with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, citing concerns with incidents in the psychiatric unit. No violations or penalties were assessed, but inspectors did make recommendations aimed at curbing further incidents
However, according to nurses in the unit, things have only gotten worse.
“Since those recommendations were issued, the volume and severity of safety incidents have increased,” the WSNA states. “Nurses want to see more communication and transparency from hospital management around this crisis.”
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