Oregon hospitals release guidelines for preventing workplace violence: 6 things to know

Kelly Gooch -

A workplace violence prevention toolkit designed to improve employee safety will be implemented in Oregon hospitals.

Six things to know about the toolkit:

1. The toolkit will allow healthcare leadership, violence prevention committees and other stakeholders to examine facilities' and organizations' workplace violence prevention practices and compare them with current violence prevention best practices, according to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems website. The toolkit also aims to help develop or strengthen workplace violence programs and policies in hospitals by identifying ways to manage or control workplace violence, the website states.

2. Groundwork for the toolkit was laid in 2014. The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems began a work group including Service Employees International Union Local 49, the Oregon Nurses Association and hospitals in the state. The work group, which aimed to address causes of healthcare worker injuries, created a pilot workplace violence project with five Oregon hospitals that informed the toolkit materials.

3. The toolkit has been endorsed by healthcare organizations in Oregon, including the Oregon Nurses Association, Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, Oregon Medical Association and the state chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The Joint Commission has linked to the toolkit on its website.

4. In a prepared statement, Andy Davidson, Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems president and CEO, said of the toolkit: "We are proud to have worked in close partnership with the diverse group involved in this effort, and we believe that the resulting toolkit will build on hospitals’ existing safety programs to ensure we protect hospital staff from violence. At the end of the day, we all care deeply about keeping people safe while they care for the sick and believe that we should take all steps possible to reduce violence in our hospitals and health care settings to zero. We're doubly proud that the Joint Commission has linked to this as a nationally available tool."

5. Hospitals are now able to access the toolkit at their own discretion. Jamie Opra, communications specialist with the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, told Becker's Hospital Review many hospitals have already committed to using the toolkit, and others are looking at how and when they might implement it.

6. More information about the toolkit is available here.

 

 

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