The Massachusetts Nurses Association is pushing a state bill that would require healthcare employers to implement plans to protect employees from workplace violence.
The union is calling for facilities to perform a risk assessment of current conditions and safeguards, come up with a plan to train employees and prevent escalations, and assign a senior manager and an in-house crisis response team to intervene in violent situations and provide support to employee-victims.
The bill follows the January shooting of Massachusetts General Hospital surgeon Dr. Michael Davidson, who was killed by a man upset about Davidson's treatment of his mother.
Massachusetts already has an increased fine for assaulting nurses and other healthcare workers.
The Massachusetts Hospital Association says its hospitals are serious about curbing workplace violence, but argues that the union-backed bill offers the same protections as a rule already put in place this year by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. The MHA said the bill could “lead to confusion, not clarity.”
