Violence in the workplace

[jesijoy]

My hospital just recently started a violence in the workplace committee to address the rise in incidents that have occurred in our hospital. I was wondering what does your hospital do to prevent violence against healthcare workers? What training do you receive to help to deescalate a situation? Does management seem to support their employees? What do you wish your employer offered?

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

We have crisis prevention institutute (CPI) training. For the most part, it's zero tolerance here when there is violence against staff.

[JKL33]

CPI.

However, it's more than just that. This is not an issue that can be properly addressed by sending everyone to a class or having them watch a video or doing an online educational activity. It has to be more comprehensive, and it will require the commitment of other "stakeholders" to assess things that contribute to risk for violence and to be willing to make changes to decrease risk. Things like department flow, time spent waiting, understaffing, poor communication techniques, etc., etc., contribute to violence risk.

Here's one resource from OSHA.

Step 1 is workplace analysis.

[Neats, BSN]

If your new program does not include verbal tactile skills I urge you to include this. The skills learned can assist in avoidance of physical assualts and often verbal outbursts. If you do not know where to find someone with these qualification I urge you to contact your state Department of Corrections. They have trained professionals who are experienced and maybe willing to teach for free.