More than 700 Manitoba care home staff injured in past 5 years

Staff working in personal care homes (PCH) and group homes in Manitoba have been injured by the people they care for more than 700 times in the past five years, costing the workers compensation program about $500,000 annually.

"I've been bitten, spit at, smacked, punched, choked. It happens on a daily basis," said one health-care aide who works in a Manitoba nursing home, adding she feared losing her job if she was identified.

She recalled being injured at work.

"Providing regular morning care on a particular resident that lashed out and got me in the face, and this time — I mean it happens quite often — but this time I definitely needed to seek medical attention for it," she explained.

Inadequate patient information

The union representing many of the health-care aides says some employers are not giving workers enough information about the clients they care for — many of whom suffer from dementia — and as a result, staff can end up injured.

Data from the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba shows that since 2010, there have been 418 injuries to staff in PCHs and 290 in group homes, totalling 708 claims.

The worker said she wasn't given information about the resident's medical condition, yet her union said employees are required to sign a confidentiality statement when they're hired.

That includes an oath indicating they will not misuse personal health information about residents or share it outside the workplace.

Right to safety

The health-care aide is represented by the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU), which is calling on employers to do a better job of conveying information about nursing home residents to workers.

"I have a right to know that I'm going to go to my job and be safe, and to be able to complete my job. So I have that expectation from my employer that I'm going to have that information," said Terry Rear, the MGEU's director for health-care support services.

Rear said that in the majority of cases there is information in a client's medical file that could have prevented an injury if the worker had knowledge of it.

"You're kind of going into those situations blind and that's very dangerous," Rear said.

"I hear about a fractured jaw, I hear about bites, I hear about dislocations, I hear about torn hamstrings, I hear about being kicked in various areas of your body. I hear about hair pulling," Rear said.

She said employers are citing privacy rules in the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA) as the reason certain medical information is not being passed to staff.

Privacy act gets in the way

"That's not the intent of the act," said Donna Hill, executive director of the legislative unit with Manitoba Health. "The act does allow for the use of personal health information for the purposes of providing health care.

"If they need that information to do their jobs and provide care, they should be given that information."

The province said staff in personal care homes — including health-care aides — are to have "activities of daily living" sheets available to inform their care of individual patients.

The Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba (LTCAM) represents 23 personal care homes, 13 supportive housing residences and three specialized care homes around the province.

LTCAM president Linda Sundevic agreed PHIA should not prevent care homes from sharing relevant information to protect staff from harm.

"Whenever we are dealing with health information and legislation, there can be a lot left to interpretation," Sundevic said.

"So I think that any kind of education and support that is available to help individuals understand ... what can be shared and what shouldn't be shared would ... can only help," she said.

Help from Manitoba health

Manitoba Health offers to help PCHs and other service providers better understand the legislation.

In 2013, the province introduced a plan to reduce violence in healthcare facilities, including a requirement to identify potentially violent individuals.

As a result, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) is developing a visual symbol that will identify individuals with aggressive behaviour so all staff will know of potentially high-risk situations.

The WRHA tracks aggressive behaviour by patients and residents toward staff, both physical and verbal, and in 2014 recorded 2,319 occurrences — most of them in long-term care facilities.

Rear, who's one of about 7,000 support staff in care homes, said she hopes the flow of information to staff will improve.

"You shouldn't have to go to work and be worried about whether at the end of your shift you're going to be OK to go home and take care of your family."