The violence support hotline was really something that came about because our members told us that it's very difficult to report. Although there are processes in place, it's confusing. There is so much documentation and there are so many requirements to report unsafe patient events, it gets confused with reporting events that impact worker safety.
We were also told by our members that they didn't feel supported when they reported violence, that some of the questions they were asked really were almost blaming: “Well, what did you do to provoke the violence?”
For those reasons, and to gather additional data, we thought it was important to provide a support line. What happens now is that our members do have the option of calling BCNU directly.
What we do is help navigate, because this doesn't replace the requirement to still report to the employer and participate in workplace investigations, but it does allow us, at a time when somebody has been physically and/or emotionally traumatized, to provide that support and help navigate the process, which is quite cumbersome. We can also initiate other elements of recovery supports from our union.
It has been successful. Certainly we don't find that nurses are calling in the moment, but usually it's after the fact and just to get some additional support. A lot of times, nurses want to be heard. Even if they don't want action taken, they want what has happened to them to be validated.
It has been successful. I don't have data with me, but if you were interested, I could certainly follow up and get you some of our findings.