NEW TOOLKIT TO REDUCE WORKPLACE VIOLENCE
Nurse administrators should have means to ensure workplace safety among their nursing teams, because hospital nurses, aides, and other staff member are one of the most vulnerable and this is what the state of Oregon is facing right now.
As cited in an article, numerous hospital staff in Oregon were injured from attacks between 2013 and 2015, and it?s mostly by patients.
According to Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in Oregon, 170 staff members at non-state acute care hospitals, like Oregon Health & Science University or Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, were injured in attacks between 2013 and 2015. Only nursing and residential care facilities had more attacks — about 330 over the same time.
Though preventive measures were already done on most hospitals, still there?s a need to strive more.
In 2014, a workgroup started meeting to come up with better procedures. Those are now available in a toolkit which was announced recently, including ways hospitals can make their workplaces safer for employees.
The toolkit is backed by Gov. Kate Brown and a bunch of other groups, including the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Oregon Nurses Association, the Service Employee International Union ? Local 49, the Oregon Medical Association, the Oregon Emergency Nurses Association, the Oregon Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives and the Oregon Center for Nursing.
?Prevention is critical to ensuring workplace safety, and I?m pleased at the wide collaboration of this effort,? Brown said in a statement.
Other health professionals said they expect the toolkit, which calls on hospitals to examine their current procedures and improve them through recommended practices, will have a positive impact.
?Comprehensive workplace violence prevention programs have a powerful impact in how we care for our patients and how we support caregivers,? Cheryl Cosgrove, a registered nurse with the Oregon Nurses Association, said in the same statement. ?This toolkit is an important first step to improve patient care and reduce workplace violence throughout Oregon.?
For further details about the toolkit, you can visit Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems? website.
Erudite Nursing Institute? encourages nurse administrators to ensure work safety in their designated health units keeping their nursing teams away from possible danger through following appropriate procedures.
LINK SOURCE:
https://www.thelundreport.org/content/new-toolkit-aims-stem-violence-hospitals
Note: The foregoing article is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in part or entirety without advance written permission. For permissions or editorial corrections, contact: Ms. Kelsey Hanna, khanna@EruditeNursing.education
