‘A shame’: Nebraska hospitals call for an end to violence against healthcare workers

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Healthcare workers are hoping to put an end to violence inside hospitals across Nebraska.

Over the past few years, the Nebraska Hospital Association said it’s become more common for hospital staff to be assaulted by patients.

The NHA is now working with lawmakers, hoping to protect healthcare workers.

According to the association, hospitals in Nebraska average 41 violent episodes against staff every year, which is about one incident every nine days.

Margaret Woeppel, the chief nursing and informatics officer for NHA, was a nurse for many years.

She said this violence is harmful to everyone, and it can affect hospital staff emotionally as well as physically.

“They went into healthcare to help people, not be hurt by people,” she said. “I know people who have been assaulted at work who have decided that either they don’t want to be a healthcare provider in that setting, or they don’t want to be a healthcare provider at all.”

She said it’s “a shame” that these nurses and doctors went to school for so long only to give up on their dreams.

Hospitals across Nebraska are required to display signs, telling people that it’s a felony to assault healthcare professionals.

Woeppel said the NHA is working to expand that law to the entire hospital staff, including housekeepers and cafeteria workers.

The association is also training healthcare workers on how to de-escalate situations with patients.