By Megan Headley

Incidences of workplace violence remain too high for the healthcare industry, despite increased attention on this issue. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates that from 2002 to 2013 incidents of serious workplace violence were, on average, four times more common in healthcare than in private industry. In fact, data indicates that healthcare accounts for nearly as many serious violent injuries as all other industries combined.

“Too many healthcare workers face threats and physical violence on the job while caring for our loved ones,” commented the current assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, Dr. David Michaels, in a December 2015 news release on this topic. “It is not right that these valuable workers continue to be injured and sometimes killed on the job. Most of these injuries are preventable and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is providing … resources to help combat these incidents and raise awareness that violence does not need to be part of the job.”

The nursing profession “will no longer tolerate violence of any kind from any source,” the American Nurses Association (ANA) declared in a new position statement on violence in health care workplaces released in August.  “Taking this clear and strong position is critical to ensure the safety of patients, nurses and other healthcare workers,” said ANA … Continued

Healthcare sometimes looks to other industries to identify safety practices that are applicable to the mission of reducing adverse events and enhancing patient safety. Aviation has been popular in this regard. Far less often mentioned is the construction industry, which shares with healthcare the operation of a relatively dangerous enterprise. While construction usually does not have on-site customers, each person’s activities can present ample risk to others. Fellow workers are in a situation analogous to patients in that they rely on other people to keep them safe. Despite this, I had not given construction much thought from the healthcare safety perspective (falling cranes in New York City not withstanding) until I was recently in Brooklyn and saw a sign at the entrance to a construction site that read “Have you done your pre-task plan today?”

Recently released survey results from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) show that bullying, intimidation, and other types of disrespectful behavior remain a problem in the healthcare workplace, and continue to erode professional communication, which is essential to patient safety and quality.

 Trinitas Regional Medical Center, a full-service healthcare facility serving Central New Jersey, is taking a novel approach to protecting its staff from combative patients, utilizing a Real-time Locating System (RTLS) from Versus Technology, Inc.

The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation has released a report focusing on the health and safety of the health care workforce and calling upon health care organizations to initiate broad organizational changes to reduce physical and psychological harm to health care workers. Through the Eyes of the Workforce: Creating Joy, Meaning, and Safer Health Care contends that patient safety is inextricably linked to health care workers’ safety and well-being because caregivers who suffer disrespect, humiliation, or physical harm are more likely to make errors or fail to follow safety practices.