Nurse Violence Prevention Act Analysis

Police and prosecutors tend to downplay the violent assaults on health care workers unless someone is severely injured, even though 30 states have felony laws against it (Jacobson, 2014, p. 4). According to a descriptive study conducted by Lisa Wolf there were many instances in, which the legal, judicial system was unwilling to pursue charges against patients, or family members who assaulted nurses. Thus the focus on legislation to make an assault on health care workers a felony crime may have limited efficacy unless efforts are made to address society’s complacency toward violence against nurses (Wolf et al., 2014, p. 3).

In Pennsylvania two house bill’s were introduced one in 2011 House Bill 1992. The bill was referred back to committee and was reintroduced in October of 2013 as House Bill 1746. This bill was referred to as the “Nurse Violence Prevention Act.” The goals and objectives of the bill require Pennsylvania hospitals and other health care facilities to take pro-active steps to protect nurses and other healthcare workers from violence on the job. The bill will require hospitals to assess the security risks in their facilities, find ways to create a safer workplace and help victims of violence report incidents. This bill was designed to help facilities develop strategies to address it’s own safety risks, such as; training level of security personnel, building design and lighting, staffing levels, and a hospital culture of safety (Cong. Rec., 2011).

In addition to cost savings for decreasing medical errors, wound infection and improving patient