• Management commitment to and employee participation in the development of plans to prevent violence in the workplace

• Worksite analysis and hazard identification
• Hazard prevention and control programs to eliminate or control workplace hazards, and achieve workplace prevention goals
• Safety and health training, including training on what to do in an emergency
• Record keeping and program evaluation that encompasses records of injuries, incidents, assaults, corrective actions, patient histories, and training.

Hospitals should be places of healing and safety for providers, patients and guests. Yet hospital employees are four times more likely to experience a violent encounter in a hospital than in any other location. According to studies cited in a 2016 review paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, 80% of emergency medical workers experience violence during their careers. Seventy-eight percent of ED physicians in the U.S. reported having been the target of workplace violence in the previous year, and 40% of psychiatrists reported they had been physically assaulted.

Based on years of health care experience and many stories from colleagues, nurses and other frontline caregivers are increasingly at risk of verbal abuse, physical assaults and injuries while on the job. Therefore, it is critical for hospital and health system leaders to take every precaution to safeguard their staff members as well as patients and visitors. Reliable mobile communication technology that accelerates the response times of safety and security personnel can not only provide a safer work environment, but also help save lives.

About the Author: Rhonda Collins is the CNO of Vocera

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