Nurses Urge Council to Pass Legislation to Ensure Hospital Safety

Registered nurses earlier this month urged the District of Columbia Council’s Committee on Health and Human Services to promptly pass legislation to ensure that hospitals create plans and take necessary action to protect patients, health care workers, and others from violence in hospitals. “A nurse colleague and I were attacked by two family members of a patient on an evening in late 2012,” Elaine Sherman, a registered nurse at the DC VA Medical Center and a member of National Nurses United, told the committee. Hannah Roy, an NNU registered nurse at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, testified that, according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration records, between 2012 and 2014, staff members at her hospital were victims of violence on the job “an average of twenty-three times per year—in other words, at a rate of almost twice a month.  This is unacceptable.” Elissa Curry, a registered nurse at Providence Hospital and a member of NNU, added that “My hospital needs to strengthen its health and safety plan, particularly with respect to risks of violence against staff and we have urged management to do so, but this issue goes beyond individual hospitals.” The DC Nurses Association also testified in support of the bill. Click here to read more. photo: (l-r): Sherman, Curry and Roy testify

---