As reports of violence at hospitals and medical centers continue to reverberate across the U.S., healthcare leaders are focusing on the safety of employees, patients and visitors. To this end, hospitals and health systems are more tightly integrating violence prevention into their broader human resources and well-being strategies.
At Carson City, Nev.-based Carson Tahoe Health, leaders and front-line staff volunteer to participate in the system’s workplace violence prevention committee.
“We gained so much interest that we were able to relook at that committee and then restructure it — so we have a steering committee, and then there are subcommittees,” said Michelle Miller, PhD, vice president and chief human resources officer, in a recent episode of the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast. “We have a subcommittee for education, a subcommittee for workplace violence prevention, environmental care rounding. We have a subcommittee — we use Epic — and there’s a flag to be able to notify other caregivers in a patient’s chart if there’s a history of aggression.”
Carson Tahoe Health, a network featuring one hospital, two urgent cares, an emergent care center, outpatient services and a provider network with 20 regional locations, is also educating employees during orientation about psychological safety and culture.
“Reporting is not designed to be a punitive system. We need to learn what happens and what we can do differently, moving forward. So that’s been a big evolution for us over the last few years,” said Dr. Miller.
Additionally, the health system is encouraging reporting.
Dr. Miller said when she’s copied on workplace violence incidents, she reaches out to those individuals directly. One of her goals is for the individual to know about the resources that are available to them.
“I always want us to be able to learn and grow — what can we be doing differently or better to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable here?” she said. “We can’t always guarantee it, but we can do everything that we can to make sure that they feel like they have the tools that they need to feel successful at work.”
York, Pa.-based WellSpan Health saw an improvement opportunity in recent years. Ultimately, the nine-hospital organization, which employs more than 23,000 people, set a first-year goal: a 5% reduction in workplace violence injuries resulting in time off work.
Over the last two years, the health system has invested more than $20 million in safety and security enhancements — part of its broader systemwide strategy.
“That’s what we did a couple of years ago, and through a lot of effort and great work — and the hiring of Bill White to be our vice president over [public safety] — many things were put in place to help us achieve that,” Vicky Diamond, senior vice president of WellSpan’s Central Region, told Becker’s in April.
Those efforts include using metal detectors at the emergency department entrance to York Hospital and stationing armed, on-duty police officers as hospital resource officers there. Security teams also use handheld wands during periods of heightened alert, and the health system continues to expand a real-time incident notification system that allows workers to discreetly request help in threatening situations.
Additionally, Ms. Diamond receives reports from hospital leaders on workplace violence-related and security events occurring in every region, informed by daily huddles with employees.
Overall, these and other actions at WellSpan have led to a 55% reduction of workplace violence injuries resulting in time off work over the last year.
Health systems aren’t the only entities focused on workplace violence prevention in healthcare. Earlier this month, federal lawmakers introduced legislation that would set federal criminal penalties for assaulting hospital employees. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott also signed a bill into law April 29, aiming to prevent workplace violence in hospitals.
