“We have to do more.”

The President of the Registered Nurses Union is hoping a round table discussion, worked into the union’s latest collective agreement with government, will help to address the violence experienced by nurses in the workplace.

Debbie Forward says nurses regularly are subjected to a higher level of violence in the workforce than other professions – including police and corrections officers.

Forward says violence in the workplace should not be tolerated and that includes in the health care system. She says they’re looking forward to a round table to discuss the issue, organized by the new Department of the Status of Women.

She says as an example, police may pick up someone drunk and belligerent who requires medical care for one reason or another, and they’re dropped off at the ER for hospital staff to handle.