ATLANTA – A Georgia Senate committee earlier this week approved recommendations to lawmakers that it hopes will curb violence against health care workers, a trend that has increased in recent years.
According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, more than 21% of registered nurses and nursing students reported having been physically assaulted, and 50% of workplace violence occurred in the healthcare sector. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2018 that 73% of all non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses due to violence in 2018 were among healthcare workers.
“Overall, healthcare workers are 20% more likely to be a victim of workplace violence than any other industry,” said Vishal Bhalla, chief human resources officer for Atrium Health, which has multiple locations in central Georgia, including Milledgeville. “And it’s even higher in nursing. … It’s definitely on the rise in healthcare and individuals are being stressed a lot more from COVID.”
Bhalla said most of the violent incidents – not just physical – occurred in mental health areas and emergency rooms.
The recommendations of the Senate Study Committee on Violence Against Healthcare Workers include the establishment of warning systems; Promoting risk assessments while treating patients; Training hospital staff to deal with behavioral and potentially violent patients; and providing de-escalation and self-defense training similar to law enforcement.
“The committee learned that several law enforcement agencies are ready to work with, or have worked with, hospitals in the area to help train health workers and deal with potentially violent people,” said Senator Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, the chairman of the committee. “This training emphasizes the same de-escalation techniques used by law enforcement agencies as well as some basic self-defense.”
Several health institutions, such as Atrium Health, have already taken preventive measures to curb violence. Bhala said that more than 82% of its employees have been trained in de-escalation and personal security techniques, security awareness behaviors, and emergency management in addition to panic buttons and police security measures.
Dr. Mohak Dave, an emergency doctor with the Northeast Georgia Health System, suggested that the committee also add tougher penalties for grievous bodily harm and bodily harm to cover all health care workers, not just those in emergency rooms, which are more likely to experience violent incidents.
Most of the states – nearly 40, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee – Has laws increasing penalties for assaulting nurses. However, Georgia is one of the few states – including Hawaii, North Carolina, and South Carolina – with penalties for violence against health care workers that only apply to emergency room staff, according to Pflegewelt.org.
“I gave a real-life example of what we even see here in the emergency rooms. We have inpatient nurses who come to treat patients who are waiting for a bed in the emergency room, ”said Dave, member of the committee. “If this health care worker has been attacked while waiting for a bed in the emergency room, they are covered by the standard. But if this patient had a free bed and went upstairs and this employee … was attacked, they have lost this protection and that makes no sense. “
The committee eventually incorporated Dave’s proposal in its final recommendations on Monday. Kirkpatrick, however, doubted a change in the law specifically on this matter.
Kirkpatrick said reported crimes against health workers are grouped with other public safety reports, suggesting that it is difficult to pinpoint the need for penalty increases specifically for health worker cases.
“At this point there is no way to tell them apart from how the (Georgia) code reads,” said Kirkpatrick. “In addition, there are already penalties for aggravated assault and aggravated assault, so the Prosecutor’s Office and the Defense Chamber did not believe that increasing these penalties would deter or change anything.”
