Imagine doing the job you do in the hospital alone? Do you think you could do it?
When we think of hospital systems, one thing everyone knows is a “Code Blue.” It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation, a beautiful synergy where everyone chimes in, focused on saving a patient’s life. There are many systems in place and fail-safes to ensure that the code runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. This could never be done alone. There are jobs that simply cannot be done in isolation, nor should they ever be. So why was one nurse, Rosanne Wallace, left to work alone in an acute mental health unit? Is it expected that we deal with the fallout of mental health crises and the trauma of workplace violence alone? The news out of British Columbia this year hit home for nurses across Canada: Rosanne Wallance, 31, a nurse died by suicide after an attack on the job (Global News, 2024). It’s a tragedy, and it is preventable. For those of us on the front lines, this is the grim and inevitable outcome of a broken system that does not do enough to combat violence against nurses and other healthcare providers, which leaves us exposed to deadly consequences.
We need to bring the same energy and urgency we bring to a “Code Blue” to provide safety and mechanisms to prevent harm to nurses. In my last episode from the Gritty Nurse Podcast, I discuss how well we’re trained to respond to a “Code Blue,” but the response to safety and protections for our mental health wellbeing is a “silent code.” This “silent code” should be a wake up call to all healthcare organizations to face these issues head on. Nurses are struggling with their mental health and are often met with silence, stigma, and a lack of support. How can we continue to remain compassionate and productive when our work environments place us in a pressure cooker—patients who are frustrated with the healthcare system, understaffed units, increased workloads, lack of mental health resources for all nurses, and a system-wide lack of resources.
In 2009, a Canadian study found that when nurses reported inadequate staffing, they also reported more frequent exposure to physical and emotional violence from patients (Shields & Wilkins, 2009). The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) has echoed this, identifying understaffing and long wait times as root causes of patient aggression. For years, organizations like the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) have published evidence-based toolkits and guidelines on safe staffing, highlighting the direct link between proper staffing and a reduction in adverse events. The Chief Nursing Officer of Canada, Dr. Leigh Chapman, has been a strong advocate for safe staffing, framing it as a critical component of nurse retention and overall health system stability. She has highlighted that safe staffing is not just a matter of “dollars and cents,” but a matter of safety for both nurses and their patients. These aren’t just recommendations for patient safety—they are a lifeline for nurses’ physical and psychological well-being.
The stories of nurses like Rosanne Wallace expose the systemic issues—nurses working alone in high-risk areas, the normalization of violence, and the lack of accountability for hospitals and administrators when we are harmed. The conversation can no longer be about violence in nursing; it must be about the violence perpetrated by a health-care system that fails to protect its own. We need mandated, minimum nurse-to-patient ratios—not as a luxury, but as a basic, non-negotiable standard. We need it to be loud and clear: safe staffing isn’t a want, it’s a need.
By: Amie Archibald-Varley
The Gritty Nurse