Workplace Violence News » Healthcare violence

Enterprise Mobile Duress: A Mobile ‘Panic Button’ for Healthcare Providers

Helen Jensen — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:00:59 +0000

By Carlton Purvis Last fall, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) released data from an ongoing survey aimed at assessing the prevalence of violence against emergency room nurses [1]. The study surveyed more than 7,000 nurses nationwide. Thirteen percent of nurses surveyed reported experiencing physical violence in past seven days. More than three-quarters (82 percent) of …

Confronting the Bullies

Helen Jensen — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:34 +0000

By Rich Krisher Everybody’s talking about it and too few are doing anything about it. “It” is bullying in the nursing workplace. When we published an article on the subject in January, readers posted an avalanche of responses. Many related personal stories of unresolved bullying at work. One stated she is “ashamed to be part …

Must-read book for nurses who want to develop the skills to manage bullying

Ross Arrowsmith — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:07:50 +0000

The American Nurses Association has announced publication of a book to help nurses understand and deal with bullying in the workplace. The ANA called the book “a must-read for nurses who want to increase their professional awareness and knowledge and develop the skills needed to effectively manage bullying behaviors and create safe workplaces.” Studies have …

Pa. hospital could be liable in fatal shooting

Helen Jensen — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:59:52 +0000

By JOE MANDAK & KEVIN BEGOS The mentally ill gunman who killed a worker and wounded several others at a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center psychiatric hospital had previously threatened staff at an affiliated hospital with a baseball bat, according to a prosecutor who is trying to determine whether UPMC could be held criminally liable. …

Health Authorities Trialling SafeTCard Personal Safety Solution as Attacks on Hospital Staff Continue to Rise

Helen Jensen — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:38:58 +0000

Recent information released by the NSW Ministry of Health in March 2012 shows that attacks on Hospital staff have increased by almost 30% in the last three years. Almost 30% of public hospital workers (including Doctors, Paramedics and Security Officers) have submitted worker compensation claims between 2008-09 and 2010-11 as a result of physical assaults …

NIOSH offers advice for employers, employees in home health care

Helen Jensen — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:04:35 +0000

Violence, overexertion, and stress are among the risks that led to the 27,400 recorded injuries among home health care workers in 2007. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has issued a series of fast fact cards to help employers protect their workers. How to Prevent Violence on the Job warns of the vulnerability …

The Workplace Violence Epidemic

Ross Arrowsmith — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:58:29 +0000

By Marleah Blades The challenges of securing employees, assets, clients and facilities can be difficult to meet in any environment; however, few organizations must contend with the level of daily turbulence and pressure that hospitals do. Changes due to federal health reform, compliance with data protection laws and employee safety directives, shifts in demographics and …

Violence not part of a nurse’s job description

Ross Arrowsmith — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:39:34 +0000

By Lauren Auty “I was assaulted by an intoxicated 20-year-old male as I took the patient to the phone to call his mother for a ride home. He passed me the phone and immediately punched me in the side of the face.” These are the words of Stanley Johnson, a Temple University nurse for nearly …

UPMC’s silence upsets family of therapist slain at Western Psych

Helen Jensen — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:58:17 +0000

By Luis Fabregas As the family of shooting victim Michael Schaab entered the Petersen Events Center for a basketball game this week, security officers patted them down and checked their purses. Barely a week before and a block away, no one stopped an armed John F. Shick from carrying two pistols into Western Psychiatric Institute …

Medical staff partly to blame for patients’ violence, Israeli study finds

Ross Arrowsmith — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:52:26 +0000

By Dan Even A new Israeli study indicates that medical personnel have a part to play in patient violence against doctors and nurses in hospitals. The research was carried out at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, by Sigal Shafran-Tikva for her Ph.D. It scrutinized attackers and their victims in nine violent events documented at Hadassah …