Guelph General Hospital nurse bitten, had urine thrown in face

A nurse at Guelph General Hospital was bitten by a patient and had urine thrown in her face, the Ontario Nurses' Association says in a grievance against the hospital.

"One of our members was injured when a patient became suddenly violent, grabbed the RN's [registered nurse] wrist, hit her in the face with a full bottle of urine, bit, punched and kicked her. Help was not readily available,"  Ontario Nurses' Association president Linda Haslam-Stroud said in a release.

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"This veteran RN had to be treated for a laceration and a deep bite, had to have blood tests for HIV and hepatitis, and is on antibiotics after the urine splashed in her eyes, nose and mouth."

Haslam-Stroud said the hospital did not inform the proper individuals in a timely manner. Instead, the association and the hospital's joint health and safety committee were told five days after the altercation.

"The failure to communicate resulted in the same patient assaulting a family member two days later," said Haslam-Stroud.

Haslam-Stroud says after a shooting at the hospital in May 2015, the hospital should be taking workplace safety more seriously.

Hospital wants to be safest in Ontario

Marianne Walker, president and CEO of Guelph General Hospital, said she was surprised by the grievance from the nurses' union because four ONA members sit on the hospital's joint safety committee, which is dedicated to improving the working environment.

"We take patient safety and staff safety very seriously," she said in an interview. "One of our strategic goals is to reduce staff harm and to become one of the safest hospitals in Ontario. We know that this is a journey, that there's lots still to do."

The hospital has undertaken a number of initiatives to address safety, Walker said, including completing a security audit of the emergency department and implementing all of the recommendations from that report. As well, a hospital-wide audit was just completed and administrators are waiting for that final report.

The hospital recently hired a health and safety officer to ensure the new safety and security measures are being met and the hospital has stepped up training for staff.

One of those training workshops focuses on what's called a gentle persuasion approach.

"In health care, you have many situations where the behaviours are unpredictable so it really teaches you what are some of the approaches to prevent an escalation or some aggressive behaviours," Walker said.

She added they encourage staff to come forward if they have safety and security concerns.

"For us to be successful, we have to all come together and look at safety and health and safety and security as really an organizational-wide initiative to get to being the safest hospital in Ontario. It's going to take each one of us to contribute in some way," she said.