In open letter, St. Paul’s Hospital staff detail growing violence, patients with weapons

Hundreds of hospital staff in Saskatoon say violence in the emergency department is all too common — and it's time for the province to address it.

Melissa McGillivray is hoping a letter containing dozens of testimonials of Saskatoon emergency department staff describing escalating violence and threatening incidents will affect real change.

“We were at a point where we felt the need to do something, and we were hopeful that if we candidly share these experiences, provide an opportunity for folks to feel safe in sharing their experiences (and) ensure that everyone had an opportunity to participate,” said McGillivray, a psych nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital.

“Perhaps people would pause and listen.”

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The letter, signed by more than 200 St. Paul’s emergency department staff members and addressed to a number of provincial politicians and senior Saskatchewan Health Authority leadership, describes escalating violence, interactions with people carrying sawed-off shotguns, knives and other weapons are “a reminder that fatal violence against our team is not just possible, it’s probable.”

“We called security for a patient smoking in the waiting room who would not stop when we asked. He pulled a knife out and proceeded to stab one of the security guards multiple times in the torso (fortunately he was wearing a protection vest). It took multiple security officers to subdue him,” one testimony said.

“Patient spit their blood into my face and it got in my mouth,” another said.

McGillivray, who helped organize and distribute the letter, said many of these stories were saved for break time or shared after hours. Now, daily threats or confrontations are affecting workers’ physical and mental health, in addition to raising concerns about compromising patient care.

“I don’t want to use the word burnout, because it’s not that staff don’t want to provide care; it’s that they don’t feel safe to provide care,” McGillivray said.

On Nov. 27, a man entered the emergency department with a sawed-off shotgun and multiple knives and threatened workers. McGillivray said that’s when staff were compelled to write the letter distributed on Sunday.

Incidents in the past include a person carrying a grenade, staff being assaulted and one nurse who was bitten and bleeding.

The letter calls for meeting with frontline staff and visits outside of photo opportunities or ceremonies to get a better understanding of the daily environment. It also calls for a number of security measures to better support security personnel, like enhanced protocols and metal detectors. If metal detectors can’t be installed, the letter urges the health authority to use handheld metal detectors “that are in storage.”

“What I see is that the workers don’t really have input into what is happening in their work area,” SEUI-West President Lisa Zunti said. “The safety protocols perhaps have gaps in them and perhaps are not even in place.”

SEUI-West represents hospital security officers in Saskatchewan. The letter calls for more security to be staffed, but Zunti says recruitment is difficult given the described working conditions and low pay.

“I don’t know what security gets paid, but it is not enough,” Zunti said. “The reality is anything could be coming through that door.”

The Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan said it is committed to working collaboratively with the Ministry of Health and the SHA to support safety in our emergency rooms and across the system.

In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Health Ministry Jeremy Cockrill indicated he needs to learn more about the situation before making any decisions.

“I have had recent meetings with the SHA to discuss some of these current challenges and will have more to say on those discussions in the days and weeks ahead.”

In an email to CTV News late Tuesday afternoon, the SHA acknowledged the concerns raised by staff and committed to meeting with staff to discuss ways to enhance safety in the province’s hospitals.

The health authority also listed a number of actions already underway to reinforce safety and support the well-being of patients and healthcare teams.

• The creation and enhancement of individual client risk assessment training, to give staff the ability to assess and communicate the risk and history of violence.
• Offering province-wide violence prevention training based on risk of role.
• Establishment of a Violence Prevention Advisory group to collaborate on needed safety enhancements for care providers, with members of this group including union partners such as the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses.

The SHA also said plans to implement metal detectors are in the works, and have already been piloted at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital.

“There’s lots of things for politicians and leaders in health care to address. but I think unless you’re in it, you don’t understand the significance of it,” McGillivray said.