Workforce – both finding and retaining health care workers – is the No. 1 issue that Texas hospitals are facing today. A significant factor in hospitals’ workforce struggles are increasing incidences of workplace violence, which bring trauma for nurses, physician assistants and others on hospital staff – and drive them out of their professions.
Two key laws, passed with strong THA support during the Texas Legislature’s 2023 session, aim to prevent workplace violence and protect those who report it.
The Issue
Workplace violence incidents were already a problem before the COVID-19 pandemic, but a THA member survey in late 2022 quantified just how severe the problem had become. In the survey, 98% of hospitals reported workplace violence had worsened or stayed the same during the pandemic; 61% reported increased severity; and 64% reported reduced services and fewer beds due to nurse staffing shortages.
These data are one piece of the puzzle in a hospital staffing problem in Texas in which it’s now projected that by 2032, demand for full-time registered nurses will outpace supply by a deficit of more than 57,000 positions.
“Hospitals must be places of refuge and healing, and employees must have a safe work environment and respectful treatment.”
John Hawkins, THA President/CEO
Attacking the Problem: Senate Bills 240 and 840
THA was instrumental in the passage of Senate Bill 240 during the 2023 session. The bill went into effect later in 2023, but health care facilities were given until Sept. 1, 2024 to comply with some of its main requirements.
SB 240 requires health care facilities, including hospitals, to:
- Establish a workplace violence committee, either by forming a new committee or assigning the task to an existing one;
- Adopt and implement a workplace violence prevention plan and policy; and
- Provide workplace violence prevention training at least annually.
SB 240 also prohibits any discipline or retaliation – such as a firing – for reporting a violent incident in good faith.
Senate Bill 840, also backed by THA, enhanced the penalty for assaulting a hospital worker on hospital property to a third-degree felony.
The laws and more: THA resources
THA’s Workplace Violence Prevention Toolkit, produced in conjunction with the Texas Nurses Association, includes legal analysis of both Senate Bills 240 and 840, along with previously existing state and federal laws. It also includes technical information on all these laws and sample signage facilities can use to let visitors know about the enhanced felony penalty installed in SB 840.
More detail on the impact of workplace violence and the need for these new laws can be found in these articles on THA’s digital news source, The Scope:
- Workplace Violence: Breaking a Cultural Norm (April 2024)
- ‘We Really Can’t Afford to Lose Any More’ (April 2023)
Workplace Violence Prevention Toolkit
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