(WSPA) — Some Upstate hospitals are adopting “no tolerance” policies due to a rise in aggressive and abusive behavior toward healthcare workers.
Prisma Health and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System facilities have posted signs, saying that “physical assault, inappropriate contact/conduct, abusive or foul language, and threats” are not tolerated in their facilities.
According to a survey by the American Nurses Association, “one in four nurses reported being physically assaulted. “
“It’s happening more often than people think,” Teshieka Curtis-Pugh, the executive director of the South Carolina Nurses Association, said. “It’s happening everyday in hospitals around our state and around the country where people are not feeling safe to go to work.”
Curtis-Pugh said the number of threats against healthcare workers has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“By 2030, we will be fourth in the nation for the nursing shortage in South Carolina,” Curtis-Pugh said. “We don’t want to do anything that’s going to cause that shift to happen faster. We need to keep our nurses at the bedside, but more importantly, we need to keep them safe.”