An emergency room nurse is calling for more security at hospital emergency rooms after she was assaulted by a patient.

Kandis Feener works as an ER nurse at Victoria General Hospital. Earlier this month, she was trying to manage an elderly female patient when the woman became violent. Feener suffered a broken nose and two black eyes.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says it is launching an internal review of the incident and says security will be a part of it.

At the Victoria General Hospital, there is security in the emergency room but guards can be called to other areas of the hospital, unlike the Health Sciences Centre where there is a dedicated security guard in the ER around the clock.

The WRHA says HSC sees more victims of serious traumas and domestic violence than other hospitals.

Feener says increased security should be a priority in all emergency rooms.

"We need to pre-empt the unpredictability and escalation of violence that we're seeing," says Feener.

The Manitoba Nurses Union would also like to see security dedicated to all emergency rooms, regardless of location.

The WRHA says a security guard was present at the Victoria Hospital at the time of the assault on Feener. Officials say all ER nurses undergo training seminars on how to handle violent patients.

A recent Statistics Canada report showed about a third of nurses in Manitoba said they had been physically assaulted by a patient in the past year. Almost half of nurses reported being emotionally abused.

Feener says many of her colleagues don't report abuse and she hopes by going public about it, future assaults can be prevented.