Act 24 – Is it protecting our health care workforce… yet?

Act 24 – Is it protecting our health care workforce… yet?

By Betsy Hassan, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, NPD-BC

May 30, 2023, marked the Governor’s signature of S.36 and the enactment of Act 24: An act relating to crimes against health care workers at hospitals and against emergency medical treatment providers. This historic and well-intended legislation was viewed as recognition of the increasingly violent work environment that the Vermont healthcare workforce must endure.

The Emergency Nurses Association and Press Ganey recently published studies that demonstrate that violence against nurses continues to increase1. This increasing frequency and severity of violence is consistent with the reports from nurses throughout the State, which often results in many nurses leaving the profession or direct care environment. Many health care professionals testified in the Legislature in support of Act 24 as an important tool to hopefully protect
health care workers from violence, but also retain the shrinking health care workforce.

Upon the inaugural year of promising legislation, the ANA-Vermont sought to understand the implementation of Act 24. A necessary component and collaboration with our law enforcement agencies, is to develop a model policy to describe the processes and training necessary for law enforcement to remove violent individuals from the care environment. Clearly defined procedures and training is a crucial component to implementing the law and protecting healthcare
workers, and patients’ rights. The Law Enforcement Advisory Board (LEAB), which is part of the Department of Public Safety has been developing a model policy for law enforcement to provide guidance for training and implementation of Act 24. ANA-Vermont obtained the draft policy through a public records request, and reviewed the Law Enforcement Advisory Board (LEAB) meeting minutes to find that the policy has still not been finalized. The policy – which serves as
the driver for law enforcement to implement the law – has yet to be finalized almost a year after the Governor signed Act 24. The draft policy remains in bureaucratic limbo. The minutes of the December 11, 2023, LEAB meeting indicate that the LEAB was planning to seek input on the draft policy from emergency medical services (EMS) stakeholders. After four months, it does not appear that the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee has reviewed the policy or
that law enforcement is making any push to finalize the policy to implement the new law. How many nurses have left the profession due to violence in hospitals while law enforcement has been waiting to implement Act 24?

As the Legislature continues to invest large amounts of taxpayer dollars into nursing recruitment and workforce development programs, they need to understand how the failure to implement Act 24, as part of protecting health care workers from violence, negates their workforce efforts. The work environment for nurses, which is increasingly becoming more violent, will be the greatest determinant if someone stays in the profession – not a work agreement, loan repayment, or any other financial incentive that the State may seek to fund. The Legislature should hold the State’s public safety and law enforcement officials accountable for the failure to implement Act 24. Many healthcare professionals testified in support of Act 24 as they described the violence that they face every day. The bureaucratic
delays in implementing Act 24 betray the trust of the nurses and other health care professionals who were hopeful that the legislation would make their work safer and more tolerable. This was celebrated in May 2023 as an act of recognition and intolerance for violence in our care settings – don’t leave those who are to be protected by the law hanging in limbo much longer – we’ll lose more nurses that we can’t afford to.

Betsy Hassan, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, NPD-BC is a board-certified nurse leader and holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Her professional areas of expertise include advocacy, workforce development, professional development, shared decision making, and leadership. She serves as the American Nurses Association – Vermont, President-Elect.

1 Carbajal, E., (April 5, 2024). Violence against nurses hits all-time high: 2 new reports (beckershospitalreview.com)