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<\/p>\nIn her almost 30 years as a nurse, Annalise* has been “punched, kicked, spat on” and even bitten on the face by a patient.<\/p>\n
When she reported the incident to her manager, she was told to “stick an alco wipe on it” and keep working.<\/p>\n
“It was terrifying,” Annalise said.<\/p>\n
“The patient who had bitten me on the face had a mouthful of rotten teeth and horrible oral hygiene.<\/p>\n
“But we just buckle up, we just get on with it, and we go back to work because that’s what we signed up for.”<\/p>\n
Annalise’s experience is not unique.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union says the rate of workplace violence is an “absolute emergency”. (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n
The Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU) has today released data from a tri-annual survey of its members about the rate of occupational violence in healthcare settings.<\/p>\n
Of the 8,754 survey respondents, about 80 per cent reported they had experienced some form of workplace violence in the past year.<\/p>\n
Just under 2,000 respondents said they were physically attacked, while others reported verbal, psychosocial, racial and sexual assault.<\/p>\n
The union’s survey results, similar to its previous survey in 2023, mirrored data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) last month.<\/p>\n
The AIHW report found healthcare workers, particularly women, experienced some of the highest rates of work-related injuries in the country.<\/p>\n
Union calls out ‘gendered violence’<\/p>\n
QMNU secretary Sarah Beaman said violence against nurses and midwives was at a “crisis level”.<\/p>\n
“Ten years ago, the data showed that occupational violence was an issue,” Ms Beaman said.<\/p>\n
“It’s no longer an emerging issue. It’s an absolute emergency.”<\/p>\n
She said workplace violence against nurses and midwives was not taken as seriously as occupational incidents in male-dominated professions, including mining and construction.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Sarah Beaman says there is a “deeply concerning” level of normalisation about assaults on healthcare staff. (ABC News: Jack McKay)<\/p>\n
“We have a health and safety system that is hyper-focused on male-dominated injuries \u2026 like a fall from a height or a chemical spill,” Ms Beaman said.<\/p>\n
“If we had this much injury occurring around people getting silicosis, coal dust, asbestosis or building sites being dangerous, I can tell you this would not be tolerated.”<\/p>\n
Verbal abuse was the most prevalent form of workplace violence recorded in the QMNU survey at 74 per cent, followed by physical attacks in 35 per cent of responses.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Verbal abuse is the most common form of assault experienced by nurses and midwives. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Nearly all physical attacks on nurses and midwives were carried out by patients.<\/p>\n
Ms Beaman said patient attacks were particularly prevalent in aged care facilities with cognitively impaired patients.<\/p>\n
Annalise said she had been working in an aged care facility when she was bitten by a patient.<\/p>\n
“A lot of staff are under-reporting because it’s just an accepted practice that the patients don’t know what they’re doing in these instances,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Beaman said there was a “deeply concerning” level of normalisation around assault in hospitals and health services.<\/p>\n
“We know that nurses and midwives quite often put the care of their patients before themselves,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But we are talking about serious injuries and we’re also talking about this being a primarily female-dominated profession \u2026 this is gendered violence.”<\/p>\n
Most injuries go unrecorded<\/p>\n
There are currently no regulatory requirements for hospitals and health services to report every incident of violence to the state workplace health and safety regulator.<\/p>\n
Only “notifiable incidents”, defined as assaults that result in serious injury or illness, must be reported to the Office of Industrial Relations.<\/p>\n