Hospital urged to protect against violence
BROCKTON -- In the last year, a nurse at Brockton Hospital was kicked to the floor and beaten by a patient, officials said. Other nurses have had their hair pulled. One was punched in the face, and another was threatened with a knife.
"To me, that's a serious problem," said Kathy Metzger, head of the local chapter of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. She said police have charged patients with serious assaults on hospital staff before.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration looked at the hospital after nurses complained earlier this year.
The assaults have led the Massachusetts Nurses Association to call Brockton Hospital the poster child for the need for workplace violence prevention.
OSHA officials sent a letter to hospital staff last month addressing what it called significant concerns with conditions an inspector found at the hospital, with numerous reports of patients in the emergency room and psychiatric unit punching, kicking, and biting caregivers and pulling their hair.
The hospital was not cited because there are no specific standards relating to workplace violence, according to the OSHA letter. But the letter recommends steps the hospital take to address assaults on staff.
The steps include creating a workplace violence safety committee, a work-site analysis, and more training and education for staff. OSHA asked the hospital for progress reports.
Rob Brogna, the hospital's director of public relations, said the hospital had adopted some of the recommendations before the OSHA inspection occurred, and said conditions within the hospital will be monitored.
"Obviously, the safety of our employees and patients is paramount to us," he said.
David Schildmeiser of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said Brockton Hospital reflects the need for state laws requiring hospitals to develop systems to prevent workplace violence. He said the hospital should have taken such measures long ago.
He said nurses' concerns with their safety and patients' safety grew to the point that their only remedy was to file a complaint with OSHA.
