Violence at work
Nurses across Queensland every day are exposed to physical and verbal abuse and many fear for their safety due to increasing numbers of violent or aggressive patients, many of whom are drug and alcohol affected.
On average, 100 nurses a year—two a week—seek compensation for injuries suffered through violence on the job.
That figure doesn’t include the many more nurses who do not seek compensation for such injuries.
In Queensland Health alone over 7,500 occupational violence incidents were reported in the 18 months between 2006 – 2007.
Nurses have repeatedly been identified as the occupational group most at risk of violence in the workplace in Australia. Registered and enrolled nurses suffered 73.2% of all reported unprovoked assaults in Queensland Health in the last six years.
Violence at work isn’t just an issue for members in the public sector either. In Tasmania two thirds of nurses reported having experienced workplace violence, while 45% of Queensland nurses working in all sectors said they had experienced workplace violence in the last three months.
In fact, more than 30,000 nurses surveyed in Queensland reported workplace violence had increased in all public, private and aged care sectors.
Violence in the workplace can adversely impact on the quality of care provided to patients and results in nurses leaving the profession, compounding existing nursing workforce shortages.
Some of this violence stems from nurses’ exposure to unsafe systems of work, which leave nurses in vulnerable and unsafe situations.
Unsafe and unsecure car parking, inadequate security arrangements, unavailable or inadequate duress systems, unsafe or inadequate living quarters, and the lack of support for nurses conducting home visits are just some of the issues that continue to lead to nurses being the victims of physical abuse.
Workplace hazards
In additional to violence at work, nurses are also exposed to significant workplace hazards which in many cases has lead to injury and which is often preventable.
In the 2006-07 year 8,390 claims were lodged with insurers for injuries sustained at work in the health and community services industry, of which 3,518 were claims made by employees in the state’s hospitals, many of whom are nurses. This is an 8.3% increase on the previous year.
Hazards identified by nurses representing a risk to health and safety in their workplaces include workplace stress, fatigue, lifting and repositioning heavy objects (including people), needlesticks and other sharps, prolonged standing, blood borne pathogens, violence at work and latex allergies.
Long working hours, shift work patterns and low staffing levels contribute to increased stress and fatigue among nurses and health professionals, increasing the risk of making potentially fatal or avoidable errors in their work.
Workplace environments
In addition to workplace hazards, including violence, many nurses are leaving the profession because of the lack of supportive workplace environments—including facilities and amenities—which is limiting career satisfaction.
Most facilities are lacking the sufficient resources to enable nurses to deliver the best possible care and nurses are feeling frustrated as a result.
Of the nearly 380,000 qualified nurses in Australia only 70% currently work in nursing, and nearly 50% of these nurses work only part time. A lack of responsive work arrangements, such as inflexible shifts, are leading many nurses to seek a better work/life balance elsewhere.
Nurses entering the profession are feeling inappropriately prepared and supported and many are leaving as a result.
There’s also a predicted tsunami of workforce loss over the next 20 years arising from the “baby boomer retirement bulge”.
In 2005 the average age of an employed nurse was 45.1 years. Between 2001 and 2005, the proportion of nurses aged 50 years and over increased from 24.4% to 35.8%.
There is both considerable nursing experience and health knowledge to be lost when nurses retire, and if inflexible work arrangements continue employers will have great difficulty keeping nurses in the profession longer.
Valuing nurses
Nurses and midwives are synonymous with health but a clearer link must be made between the value they add to the system and the potential array of services they could offer.
Nurses must be able to offer these services through appropriate resourcing, support, facilities and amenities.
Governments and employers must also renew efforts to create safe and supportive workplaces through the development of policies and strategies to reduce violence and aggression toward nurses and other health workers and prevent exposure to hazards.
It is also essential that more flexible and family friendly rostering arrangements which minimise fatigue and risk of error, and achieve a better work/life balance for nurses, are implemented.
Supporting nurses through the provision of child care services, access to paid continuing professional development, and improving their workplace environments will assist in improving nurse recruitment and retention.
Given the ageing of the nursing workforce the development of transition to retirement programs will be critical. Factors to keep older nurses in work longer could include: flexible or set working hours, part time work, using leave to reduce working hours, alternative job arrangements such as working in a similar job in a different location or a location closer to home, a sideways move to a different job as well as choices for telecommuting/home based work, where available.
Lastly an environment where new nurses feel supported and where existing nurses have the time to commit to mentoring and clinical induction must be achieved if we are to retain existing nurses and promote nursing as a career of choice. | 
