Image courtesy of TVW
A bill to allow nurses to receive workers’ compensation for job-related post-traumatic stress disorder is now being considered by a State House committee.
Labor and Industries rules would be changed under Senate Bill 5454 to make it easier for direct care registered nurses who suffer from PTSD to get the help they need.
Katharine Weiss with the Washington State Nurses Association says they shouldn’t have to fight to get help for trauma. Weiss says, “It allows nurses to seek workers’ compensation for more than just one specific incident. Under this bill, a nurse can get help for the mental impacts for regularly dealing with sick patients, workplace violence and having to do their job with fewer and fewer resources.
The current rules allow a presumption that PTSD in first responders, like police and firefighters, is an occupational disease.
This bill differs from its House companion in that the presumption was removed for nurses so the Service Employees International Union asked that it be put back in the measure. A representative of SEIU 1199 Health Care Northwest told the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee job-related trauma causes burnout among nurses and impacts patient safety, noting that you wouldn’t want a nurse working on you when they’re experiencing their own stress and trauma.
Groups with concerns over the bill say the standards it would set don’t match those negotiated for first responders, so they’d like them to be the same. Others say the bill’s its definition of “nurse” is too broad because some nurses, depending on their duties, are already covered by workers’ comp.
You can watch the entire hearing on TVW here. This bill is heard starting at about the 50:55 mark. It’s set for a possible vote in the Labor and Workplace Standards Committee March 24th.
