'A wake-up call': Union voices safety concerns after student nurse stabbed at Vancouver hospital

The Vancouver General Hospital is seen on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (Ben Miljure/CTV)

The BC Nurses Union is calling for change after a student nurse was stabbed by a patient at Vancouver General Hospital Thursday.

BCNU president Adriane Gear told CTV News the latest incident – in which the victim was stabbed with a pocket knife – is the latest example of a concerning trend the union is seeing across the province.

"Nurses, every day in this province, experience aggression and violence," Gear said. "That could be uttering threats, that could be pinching, biting, hitting. We are seeing, with more frequency, weapons in the workplace. So that, certainly, is becoming a concern."

The Vancouver Police Department said it was called to VGH around 9 a.m. Thursday after an assault inside the facility.

Officers arrested a 48-year-old man, but released him into "the secure care of the hospital" because he needed further medical and psychiatric care, the VPD said in a statement.

Police said they will be forwarding a report to Crown counsel with charge recommendations, and added that the victim's injuries were not life-threatening.

Gear also said the student nurse would be OK, physically, but expressed concern about what effect the experience could have on her or other students thinking about entering the profession.

"I really hope this student nurse will continue with her journey of becoming a nurse," she said. "Despite the challenges, it's a very good profession, and we need more nurses."

Gear said the province is short nearly 6,000 nurses on any given day, and in smaller communities, losing a single nurse can have a ripple effect on a facility's operating hours or the quality of patient care.

Incidents of violence against nurses can lead to more of them leaving the field, which counteracts recruitment efforts aimed at making up the shortfall, she said.

"From a retention perspective, if nurses don't feel safe, if they don't feel like their health and safety is valued by the employer, we can hire all of them, but they're not going to stay," Gear said. "They're not going to stay in B.C. or they're not going to stay in the profession."

The BCNU president said Thursday's assault "certainly serves as a wake-up call, not only for Vancouver Coastal, but for all health authorities."

Asked what health-care employers in the province should be doing differently to address the issue of violence directed at staff, Gear listed several steps, including additional training on violence prevention, more "relational security officers" in health-care facilities, and clearer policies for preventing weapons in the workplace.

A lot of the solution comes down to enforcing existing policies, she added.

"There are policies around violence and violence prevention. Frankly, I don't think that they're adhered to," Gear said. "You cannot go into any hospital within B.C. without seeing a sign that says 'violence will not be tolerated,' and yet it is, and nurses and other health-care workers are expected to just tolerate abuse."

"It's not acceptable that nurses are being assaulted on the job, and it's absolutely not acceptable that student nurses who are entering our profession are subjected to such a risk."