The NSW government is recruiting 129 extra security guards across 27 hospitals.
It comes after two nurses at Concord Hospital were allegedly assaulted by a female patient.
Health Minister Ryan Park is also considering giving security staff additional powers, but has not reached a decision yet.
Bruce Rowling is a security guard at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital and says he has been injured on the job "many a time".
The worst of those injuries was his thumb pulled out of its socket, ripping his tendons.
He said he was restraining a male patient who had been told by a doctor he was moving to another hospital.
Before the patient could be sedated, Mr Rowling held him down.
"In the process of me holding him, my thumb was pulled out of its socket," he said.
Mr Rowling said in a big hospital with about 650 beds, there were usually four security staff working at a time.
He said a general rule was one security guard for every 100 people, but that number was not achievable once visitors and hospital staff were taken into account.
To reduce gaps in security ratios in New South Wales hospitals, the state government has committed to recruiting 129 extra full-time security staff.
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