With growing concerns about potential violence looming in healthcare facilities throughout the United States, the institutions have stepped up efforts to ensure the safety of their staff, visitors, and patients. Both hospitals and health systems are fusing violence prevention strategies into their more extensive human resource and overall well-being plans.
One exemplar is Carson Tahoe Health, centered in Carson City, Nevada, where the institution’s administration and front-line staff have actively volunteered to join the system’s workplace violence prevention committee. Due to an outpouring of interest, the committee was successfully reconfigured, enabling the development of several subcommittees focusing on different facets, like education and environmental care rounding. The system also utilizes a notification flag through their Epic module to inform other caregivers if a patient has a history of aggression.
Michelle Miller, the vice-president and chief human resources officer at Carson Tahoe Health, highlighted their focus on psychological safety and culture insights during the orientation of their employees. The goal here is not to penalize but to understand incidents better and learn from them as an organization.
Under Miller’s purview, the organization focuses on heightening the empathy quotient among the staff members. When she is involved in violent incidents, she personally reaches out to those impacted, ensuring they’re aware of the resources they can turn to in such situations.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the nine-hospital system, WellSpan Health, set a commendable goal to reduce workplace violence injuries by 5% in their first year. Subsequently, they funnelled over $20 million into safety and security enhancements across a two-year period, successfully achieving a significant decrease in violence injuries leading to absences—an impressive 55% drop.
Various strategic protocols have been implemented, including the use of metal detectors at emergency entrances, deploying armed, on-duty police as hospital officers, and introducing handheld wands for heightened periods of alertness. They have also rolled out a real-time incident notification system that empowers workers to discreetly solicit help if they feel threatened.
While healthcare organizations have taken the lead, the challenge of violence isn’t limited to them. At the legislative level, federal lawmakers introduced laws that enforce stern penalties for assaulting hospital staff, with Vermont Governor Phil Scott signing a law specifically aimed at preventing workplace violence in hospitals.
In summary, there are growing concerted efforts from within healthcare organizations and beyond to promote a safer, more secure environment, with an emphasis on comprehensive violence prevention strategies and empathetic responses.