WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The largest union that represents nurses in the United States finds that to be a hospital nurse nowadays, is to be subjected to being scratched, slapped, punched, kicked, spat on, groped, or have an object thrown at them.
The National Nurses United claims more than 80% of nurses experienced at least one type of workplace violence last year.
WATCH: Jude Derisme explains why more nurses are experiencing workplace violence
The most common types of violence are verbal and physical threats, but 36% said they’ve been slapped, punched, or kicked.
The vice president of the Service Employees International Union said, in his opinion, there’s a reason nurses are more vulnerable to assaults.
“One of the things we’ve been sounding the alarm for is the need for all the hospitals to improve staffing levels,” said SEIU Vice President Jude Derisme. “We want to afford better care and to do that, we need the proper staff.”
Derisme represents nurses at HCA Florida Palms West Hospital where a nurse was seriously injured after a beating.
WATCH BELOW: Affidavit says 'essentially every bone' broken in nurse's face after attack
But Derisme adds, it’s too soon to tell if staffing levels contributed to the incident.
I reached out to Palms West Hospital to see if it believes staffing levels are adequate enough to reduce the chances of a nurse or other staffer getting hurt.
For more data on assaults on hospital nurses, I contacted the health care research company Press Ganey for more information.
In an email to me the group reports assaults on nurses rose almost 65% in the last 10 years.
Press Ganey also finds psychiatric units have the highest rate of assaults.
