On Feb. 12, RNAO’s Windsor-Essex chapter hosted a webinar that focused on strategies to prevent violence against nurses. The event was co-hosted by RNAO’s Mental Health Nurses Interest Group and Sigma Tau Epsilon. 

Chapter chair Kathy Moreland said there have always been acts of aggression in health care, but a three-fold increase in the number of workers’ compensation cases from 2012 to 2024 is concerning. 

“Nurses are certainly reporting more aggression, like bringing weapons [to health-care settings],” she said. This is an issue affecting nurses in all sectors of the system, she added. “It’s not just hospitals. It happens … in clinics and long-term care settings,” Moreland explained. “Nurses shouldn’t be afraid to go to work.” (AM800, Feb. 12)