600-1333 West Broadway Vancouver British Columbia V6H 4C7 (604) 734-2423 (604) 734-7202
To address the rapidly escalating occurrences of abuse of care providers, the British Columbia Health Association sought and received grant funding to develop a comprehensive program entitled "Drawing the Line." It comprises a number of components all geared toward reducing and/or mitigating the affects of abuse.
Over 500 health organizations in B.C. received the program at no cost. Health care workers in British Columbia have been subject to growing occurrences of abuse by patients, residents, clients, family members of those in care and others. Workers' Compensation claims based on violence for these workers have tripled since 1982. Health care has the highest number of WCB claims of any industry in the province and, between 1982 and 1991, there were 8,202 short-term disability claims arising from acts of violence or force. A total of 44.2 percent of all such claims in British Columbia were made by nurses, nurse aids and orderlies. Police, by comparison, represent only 5.9 percent of such claims. A steering committee
comprised of representatives of professional bodies, government, health unions, health employers, mental health, and health administrations was formed to assist in the development of the program.
"Drawing the Line" is a video-based education offering in which four vignettes of actual violent and/or abusive situations are depicted. A facilitator's manual and participant worksheets are included. The scenarios cover situations that had relevance for large urban hospitals as well as rural clinics, community health nurses, home care workers and those employed in long-term care settings. A series of regional "Train the Trainer" sessions were held in 10 centres throughout the province. Each care organization in the region was invited to send an individual to the session to receive professional instruction on the most appropriate use of the program.
