'It hurts us all:' Northwestern Medical Center looks for solutions to workplace violence
Saint Albans Messenger
At Northwestern Medical Center, staff have been spit on and screamed at, in the room when a patient has thrown equipment or punched a wall.
“When somebody is violent, it’s pretty scary,” said JoAnn Manahan, RN, director of the emergency department. “It’s intimidating, it’s frustrating, and it’s exhausting. It hurts us all.”
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than double the number of healthcare workers reported harassment at work in 2022 than in 2018 – rising from 6% in 2018 to 13% in 2022.
That upward trend is true locally here in St. Albans, where medical staff at NMC say they are seeing more and more aggressive behaviors from patients and visitors.
“Our staff have been bit and hit so hard they have been bruised,” said Danielle Boudro, RN, director of NMC’s progressive care unit.
And while these incidents of harassment and violence are personally traumatizing for staff, they often go unreported. Many nurses, for example, get into the profession because they are passionate about helping people in need.