The organizations developed the Guiding Principles on Mitigating Workplace Violence for hospitals and health systems in 2015. The update includes a toolkit to support hospitals in customizing a violence prevention program, the organizations’ nurse leaders said in an Oct. 25 blog post.
The AONL and ENA recommend hospitals and health systems use the following principles as a guide to expand workplace violence prevention efforts:
- Ground workplace violence prevention programs using evidence-based strategies.
- Employ comprehensive solutions, recognizing the intersecting layers of intrusive, consumer, relational and organizational violence
- Mitigate workplace violence by establishing support through the breadth of the organization.
- Promote a culture of safety to create a healthy work environment.
- Ensure interprofessional teams (leadership, staff, patients and visitors) are committed to reporting incidents of violence and acting to prevent workplace violence.
- Emphasize accountability, regardless of role or discipline, to uphold foundational standards of nonviolent behavior.
The updated guidance comes in the wake of a shooting at Methodist Dallas Medical Center on Oct. 22 that left two employees dead.
