Waterloo Region hospital workers at higher risk of patient attacks, stats show

More than double the number of frontline health workers in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge have reported being attacked by patients than workers in surrounding communities, numbers released by the Workplace Safety Insurance Board ro CBC News show.

Over a three year period, the WSIB has allowed27 lost time claims for assaults, violent acts or harassment by patients against frontline hospital workers in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and Stratford areas. The statistics include violence toward registered nurses, registered practical nurses, nurse aides, orderlies and chiropractors.

In 2012 there were nine reports. In 2013 there were eight reports. In 2014 there were 10 reports.

Numbers were not available for 2015.

Of the 27 claims, 19 were listed as being in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, while eight were in Wellington and Perth counties.

The WSIB was unable to give specific numbers for individual hospitals.

"Any further breakdown would take the counts below the less than five threshold, which could breach the privacy of these workers," Tonya Johnson, a senior public affairs consultant for WSIB, said in an email.

Attacks 'not part of the job'

The WSIB released the numbers to CBC News after Helen Fetterly, a registered practical nurse for more than 40 years and the secretary-treasurer of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE, told a nursing conference focusing on violence in the profession that attacks on registered nurses in hospitals is "very broad and it's quite rampant."

"It's happening every day," she said at the conference in Kingston, Ont., on Jan. 27.

In a CUPE press release dated Jan. 27, which was the same week as the conference, officials said nurses in Hamilton, Cornwall, North Bay and Kingston suffered serious injuries from patient attacks. In one case the nurses were repeatedly punched in the head, with one losing consciousness after being thrown against a wall. In another, a nurse was beaten unconscious with a lead pipe.

Linda Haslam-Stroud, president of the Ontario Nurses' Association, told The Morning Edition host Craig Norris on Jan. 29 that nurses themselves have felt for a long time that violence and injury is part of the job, but that is now changing.

"It is not part of the job, it's not part of anyone's job to be stabbed, kicked, sexually assaulted, choked, end up with a head injury or concussion and we need to do better," she said. "I believe there's more reporting, although I still think it's underreported."

Security measures taken

Safety is a growing concern amongfrontline healthcare staff, Grand River Hospital CEO Malcolm Maxwell said in an interview.

"The challenges they face working in the healthcare environment are quite broad. You're dealing with people who are sometimes intoxicated, sometimes people who are distraught or in grief, sometimes people who are impaired cognitively and don't appreciate the consequences of their actions or act irrationally. Those are all challenges staff face on a regular basis," he said.

Last fall, Guelph General Hospital bolstered security on the advice of experts following a deadly shooting in the emergency room on May 20, 2015. The Special Investigations Unit continues to investigate the police-involved shooting death of 36-year-old Brandon Duncan.

It's important that we keep an awareness and keep our practices as strong as they can be.- Malcolm Maxwell, CEO of Grand River Hospital

In September, the hospital's administration announced four permanent security officers would be on-site 24-7, where before, there was only one guard on during the day and two overnight.

Grand River Hospital has had a security team in place for a few years and staff working in areas where they may encounter patients that could lash out receive Code White training, Maxwell said. As well, when patients arrive at the hospital, they are screened and, if staff feel there could be a problem, their file is flagged so anyone taking on the patient is aware.

Maxwell said in the past couple of years, about four of five cases of patients lashing out at staff have needed to be reported.

"It's important that we keep an awareness and keep our practices as strong as they can be because it's very concerning for staff to work in an area where there's some possibility of that," he said.