Trauma patients in the Ntuzuma area outside Durban will have to travel elsewhere for treatment at night after staff there were attacked, reports The Times. KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo has announced the suspension of night services for the Ntuzuma Clinic following attacks by "thugs".
Dhlomo visited the facility with local ward councillor Happy Mkhize after learning that on Saturday night‚ two men had entered the clinic via the back entrance. Dhlomo's spokesperson Desmond Motha said they accosted a guard inside‚ took his phone and radio and then robbed nurses. One nurse was slapped and kicked.
The report says patients will be adversely affected by the suspension of services‚ especially those with stab and gunshot wounds who will now have to travel to clinics at KwaMashu.
"We will be beefing up our security by employing more personnel‚ upgrading security fencing and putting up steel doors at the entrances‚" said Dhlomo. "We will review this decision pending community engagement but for now the clinic is open only during the day‚" he said.
Dhlomo said concessions will be made for women in labour who will be transported by ambulance to KwaMashu. "These are non-negotiables‚ we really cannot sacrifice the lives of our healthcare professionals by forcing them to work at night to become targets of the tsotsis‚" said Dhlomo.
As front-line workers, nurses serve many roles in the health care system – they are caretakers, educators, patient advocates and, increasingly, victims of violence, according to a Times Colonist report. Although violence in the workplace is widespread, the report says it’s much more pervasive in industries like health care, and nurses working in hospitals, long-term care facilities and out in the community often face dangerous working conditions.
“Health care centres and hospitals used to be sanctuaries. They are not sanctuaries anymore,” says Gayle Duteil, president of the British Columbia Nurses’ Union. Nurses are particularly vulnerable to violent assaults because they work so closely with patients, who may act aggressively due to a medical condition or a medication they’re taking, because they have difficulty communicating their needs or because they feel frustrated by their circumstances, the report says.
Overcrowding and inadequate staffing in certain areas of the hospital, particularly psychiatric and emergency wards, can exacerbate the issue, and are often cited as contributing factors.
[link url="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2017/03/21/Thugs-rob-and-slap-nurses%E2%80%9A-so-clinic-closes-its-doors-at-night-in-KZN"]The Times report[/link]
[link url="http://www.timescolonist.com/business/b-c-nurses-face-higher-risk-of-workplace-violence-than-law-enforcement-1.12301401"]Times Colonist report[/link]