Published in the Shelby Utica Macomb Washington Gazette

By State Rep. Doug Wozniak

I have a great appreciation for the selfless individuals who work in our health care industry. And because I happen to have been married to one for 37 years, I know the stress of the job doesn’t end when it’s time to go home after a hard day’s work.

My wife has been a registered nurse for more than 40 years, and I’m proud to report my daughter followed in her footsteps and is now a practicing pediatrician. While I know they both love what they do, I’ve also learned a lot from them about the tolls the health care industry can take on its workers.

In 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that health care workers experience violence in the workplace four times more often than other professions. That same year, the American Nurses Association found that over 50 percent of nurses reported being verbally or physically assaulted in the previous year.

Violence and harassment is a growing issue in hospitals and medical offices around the country, and Michigan has not been immune. It was brought to my attention recently that we are not doing all we can to help our health care workers recover from workplace trauma. I believe the solution is to ensure care workers have a confidential place to discuss their experiences.

Critical incident stress management (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 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 law, which provided public safety officers with confidentiality and legal protections, but did not extend those protections to health care professionals who provide emergency medical services on a routine basis.

I introduced legislation in August to broaden the scope of existing law to establish confidentiality and legal protections for health care employees receiving CISM services. My goal is to support the physicians, nurses and support staff that far too often place their own safety at risk to save the lives of others.

By protecting them legally we will encourage those experiencing trauma to speak out and ultimately reduce stigma surrounding mental health.

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