Nurses step up efforts to protect against attacks

New York Times, July 10, 2008

In recent years, nurses have sounded the alarm about workplace violence, most of it committed by patients. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of all nonfatal injuries resulting from workplace assaults occur in healthcare and social service settings. Nurses and other personal care workers bear the brunt of such attacks, with 25 injuries annually resulting in days off from work for every 10,000 full-time workers. Nurses now say the nationwide nursing shortage is making matters worse, because understaffing increases the risk of violent incidents.