The Michigan House of Representatives has approved a plan sponsored by state Rep. Douglas Wozniak to help employees in Michigan’s health care sector recover from traumatic events in the workplace.

“My wife is a nurse and my daughter is a pediatrician, so I understand the stress that health care workers face on and off duty. Michigan’s hospital workers have been subject to increasing incidents of violence and harassment,” Wozniak said. “Four times more often than other professions.”

Wozniak’s bill establishes confidentiality and legal protections for health care employees receiving critical incident stress management (CISM) services. CISM is a voluntary intervention process designed to help individuals dealing with traumatic stress in the workplace, carried out by a response team of trained peers. It does not replace formal psychotherapy, but has been proven to be an effective initial response for health care facilities experiencing lost productivity due to critical incident stress.

In 2016, Gov. Rick Snyder signed Michigan’s first and only CISM statute, which provided public safety officers with confidentiality and legal protections. But the measure did not extend to health care professionals who provide emergency medical services on a routine basis. Wozniak’s bill would broaden the scope to include those individuals.

House Bill 4862 now advances to the Senate for consideration.

###