*RN press conference: Thursday, April 3 at 1:30 p.m.*

RNs at MountainView Hospital are demanding HCA act quickly to prevent further violence 

Registered nurses at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas, Nev., will hold a press conference on Thursday, April 3, to highlight concerns about the safety of staff and patients, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU). The press conference will take place at a bake sale fundraiser organized by union nurses for metal detectors and other prevention measures.

“MountainView management can hide behind locked doors in their offices when violence and abuse take place, but nurses and our patients don’t have that luxury,” said Nicole Taylor, RN in the labor and delivery unit. “Management’s refusal to proactively address frontline workers’ safety concerns has left us with no other option but to raise the funds ourselves and ask the community for support.”

Las Vegas nurses’ rally follows a recent attack on two nurses at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, Fla., as well as a brutal attack on a nurse at HCA’s Florida Palms West Hospital. Many more incidents of workplace violence, including at HCA MountainView, are not publicized.

“The attacks in Florida should have been a wake-up call for HCA – who else needs to be hurt before this multibillion-dollar health care corporation puts safety over their bottom line?” asked Keith Collier II, RN in the emergency department. “It’s a disgrace that we have to do bake sales for metal detectors. Shame on you HCA. Do better.”

What:   HCA MountainView RNs press conference on workplace violence prevention 

When:  Thursday April 3, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. PT

Where: 3100 N. Tenaya Way, Las Vegas, NV – sidewalk in front of the hospital

MountainView nurses are demanding that management work with nurses to:

• Install metal detectors at all entrances
• Incorporate staff RN input into security decisions and improve real-time communication with RNs on security issues within the hospital
• Implement unit-specific, comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans, including dedicated security who have unit-specific knowledge and expertise especially in the women’s services department (obstetrics, postpartum, neonatal intensive care unit), emergency department, and psychiatric department

A 2024 NNU survey indicates that health care workers have experienced a surge in workplace violence rates nationally, and the problem was exacerbated by the health care industry’s actions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey results found that 81.6 percent of nurses who responded had experienced at least one type of workplace violence within the past year.

NNU strongly supports national legislation that supports a comprehensive workplace violence prevention standard. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act is aimed at protecting nurses, all health care workers, and patients from workplace violence. The bill was reintroduced on April 1. This federal bill would mandate that federal OSHA create a standard that would require health care and social service employers to create, implement, and maintain effective workplace violence prevention plans.

NNOC/NNU represents more than 1,000 registered nurses at MountainView Hospital.