Working in healthcare can be a dangerous business. Some employees, like nurses and emergency workers, should be getting hazard pay. Not only are there incumbent dangerous of working in critical environments, dealing with diseases, infected needles, clothing, whatever, but on top of all that patients can give our healthcare workers a very difficult time.
According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, about two thirds of the paramedics experienced workplace violence. I have written extensively on the subject and one such article is entitled, Assessing the Types of Workplace Violence.”
According to the article in the Vancouver Sun….””Anecdotal reports and workplace safety records have highlighted cases of verbal, physical and sexual abuse, yet until now, there has been little scientific research,” said Bigham, an associate scientist with Rescu, a research group based at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.”
The article reported that most mistreatment was verbal abuse. It can be no fun to be trying to save someone’s life only to have the bad mouthing you as part of the deal. Definitely not the bonus plan.
The Study also found that 41.5 percent of paramedics faced intimidation, nearly half of which came from coworkers, a little more than a third from patients, and about a quarter from patients’ friends and family. Approximately 13.6 percent reported sexual harassment and 2.7 percent reported sexual assault, the vast majority of which was perpetrated by patients.
