In reality, there are limited places that violence cannot happen, however, we are often surprised by some of the places violence does take place. One of the places many don’t expect violence to take place is in the hospital. Hospitals are designed to promote safety and provide medical care and nursing treatment for sick or injured people. Unfortunately, on January 12, 2016 a hospital security guard and a police officer endured near-fatal shootings by a drug-affected patient in Nepal. Rachel Olding, the author of an article written February 4, 2016 points out some concerns, thoughts, and ideas for improvement taken from hospital workers who have seen and experienced hospital violence firsthand. Hospitals need to be a place of safety for their patients, staff, and visitors.
Rachel Olding is a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald, a daily newspaper that was founded in 1831. Olding sufficiently expresses the concerns of the hospital employees. This article is to inform and raise awareness of an issue that is effecting those designed to help. As she points out, “Doctors, nurses, security guards and emergency workers have spoken out about critical levels of violence in NSW hospitals, partially attributed to skyrocketing use of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice". The employees that are on the ground level of this problem have been willing to participate in discussions to address this growing problem and create safer environments for everyone involve.
As this article was
The documentary The Waiting Room presents a safety-net hospital located in Oakland, California. In the film, director Peter Nix follows patients, doctors, and staff throughout a typical day. Furthermore, the film displays how the staff is overworked, causing an impact regarding how the American health care system is affecting millions of uninsured patients who try to cope with injury and disease. The film utilizes techniques from the observational mode such as long takes, crisis structure, and documenting unplanned everyday experiences to convey the cruel realities of Americans seeking hope and treatment.
Safety is an important factor and is a high priority in healthcare. Kelly, Fenwick, Brekke, and Novaco (2015) shared that workplace violence impairs the staff perceptions of safety. However, both patients and staff are affected by workplace violence in many ways, from physical to emotional aspects. There are many reasons why violence occurs, that will be explained later in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to explain the reason and importance of the chosen phenomenon of interest. Moreover, primary and opposing philosophic viewpoints will be discussed, as well as ways of recognizing and utilizing them in nursing. The ways of knowing patterns in nursing and the utilization of these patterns will be explained, pertaining to nursing care.
One of the most critical factors which contribute to the number of preventable cases of healthcare harm is the culture of silence surrounding these cases. The fear of medical providers to report incidences is related to the possibility of punishment and liability due to a medical error (Discovery, 2010). The criminalization of some acts of medical error has resulted in job dismissal, criminal charges and jail time for some healthcare workers. This is despite the fact that the system they are working in helped to create the situation which led to the error in the first place. Human error, due to fatigue and system errors can result in deadly consequences, but by criminalizing the error it effectively shuts down the ability to correct the root problem. Healthcare workers, working at all levels within the medical system, can provide valuable input on how to improve the processes and prevent harm from occurring (Discovery, 2010).
Tony York, the chief operating officer for Healthcare Security Services in Denver, Colorado, which monitors security at hospitals throughout the nation, says there has been an “explosion of patient-generated violence” in the past several years – both from patients themselves and, often, the people accompanying them to the hospital. “Those are things that have driven this industry immensely,” York
Ravandeep Kaur (Group B) Unit 3: Health, Safety and Security in Health and Social Care
According to Purpora and Blegen, approximately 60% of actual errors in patient care result from poor and ineffective communication (para. 3). Horizontal violence causes a decrease in effective communication between caregivers which places the patient’s safety in jeopardy. Horizontal violence decreases staff morale which leaves room for error in the workplace (Longo & Smith, 2011).
A practice that has been put in place is the use of call buttons that are installed and easily available for the staff to use when dealing with escalating patients. Within this Veterans Affairs Hospital, the inpatient geriatric unit has at least 2-3 cases of patient-on-patient assault each month. For those that are very aggressive, this is currently being addressed by the use of one-on-one staff and antipsychotic medications. Clinicians are expected to be able to assess whether intervention is needed to protect other patients and staff from patients’ violence, to assess when patients pose a sufficient level of risk, and to assess when patients who have been hospitalized can be safely discharged to the community. However, surveys of practitioners suggest that many receive little formal training in violence risk assessment. (McNeil, et al. 2009) The limitations of formal training in risk assessment for violence suggested by such surveys underscore the need for education in this topic, hence the relevance of this educational training. Nurses on the front lines of care are ill-prepared to deal with this, hence the need for training. (Peek-Asa, et al.
Violence in health care is an intriguing subject. Understanding and coping with threatening and violent behavior in mental health settings can be challenging and is a necessary part of being a health care provider (Berring, Pedersen, & Buus, 2016). If the situation is not handled well, patient and staff injuries can occur. A well thought out de-escalation plan and having a process in place is valuable. Having a range of psychosocial interventions that are focused on redirecting patients can help calm them down. The important aspects of de-escalating are being familiar with the patient, understanding the situation, knowing yourself, and having the knowledge of how to communicate in such a situation. Unfortunately, there are not many studies that have explored how staff and patients experience de-escalation methods and further research is needed in this very relevant area of health care.
The primary purpose of health care is to serve the patients’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. However in a recent news headline in Vancouver Sun newspaper in February 24, 2015 tackle the stories entitled: B.C. nurses to begin filing charges against violent and aggressive patients. It stated that nurses are tired of being kicked, punched and slapped. Nurses are tired for the government and health authorities to take action that leads them the need to protect themselves to get more harm. Such incidents is one of the many example of
Continual training is needed not only to educate personnel but also to remind personnel that although coming to work may be a daily routine for them, a trip to the hospital for many patients is far from ordinary. The security guard who was more concerned with the position of the car and talking to his buddy, than why the people in the car had drove up to the emergency entrance in the first place was mind boggling. With the exception of our initial phone call to the hospital, the security guard experience was our first impression as we entered the hospital. The actions of the security guard, the orderly's remarks, and the inexperienced resident set the tone for that first day's experience.
Horizontal violence is not a topic that medical faculties discuss on a day-to-day basis, but it is an enormous problem within the health care system. In this research the author looks at bulling from a registered nurse (r.n.) aspect .The effects on patient centered care can be detrimental for patients and r.n.’s. The work place needs to be a safe place for not only the patients but also the employees. With the rise of new graduate nurses who are employed by the medical facilities, they too are starting to face horizontal violence within the first year on the job, which leads to retention of nurses in the medical field. Horizontal violence will continue to arise if nurses do not stand up to bullying and empower victims to speak up on
A study by Johns Hopkins observed that healthcare workers are predominantly vulnerable during active shootings. According to the John Hopkins study “The rate of assaults on them is 8 in 10,000, compared with 2 in 10,000 for the private sector”. (hopkinsmedicine.org, 2014) Drills and training courses have risen across the United States in the aftermath of active shootings. Professional nurses can collaborate with law enforcement to conduct hospital drills that include industry guidelines, safety rules, staffing suggestions, checklists and scenarios for planning a similar event. In Los Angeles a workshop that role plays with plastic weapons, demonstrates to facility workers that they can defend themselves during such emergencies. (calhospitalprepare.org,
Eric Cropp is a hospital Pharmacist convicted of involuntary man slaughter after the two year old received a fatal injection of saline solution.A pharmacy technician working under him accidentally mixed the clear saline solution incorrectly and he didn’t check if it’s correct.Three years after the death of Julie’s patient the hospital published an independent study of revealing multiple system issues including Julie’s error an honest mistake anyone could’ve made.Julie is now a TMTI patient’safety fellow to help saves other lives.The Story Power: The Secret Weapon ,is an article targetting all the healthcare leaders and in it is a secrets of a power of connecting the head to the heart to a prompt action. The end result of this war is basically
In today’s world violence can be expected anywhere at any time. This includes what was considered at one time a low risk area, the medical facility. Today the incidence of violence is increasing. There are two types of violence the first is lateral violence or aggression which is amongst hospital or medical personal. The other is external factors consisting of patients or visitors instituting violence or aggression among themselves or against healthcare workers. This is known as a code grey in my facility and all male staff not currently engaged in patient care are supposed to respond.
Thesis • Horizontal violence among nurses reduces the quality of care patients receive and influences whether students remain in the nursing profession based on clinical experiences during placement. • The Canadian Nurses Association (2005) defines horizontal aggression “as aggressive behaviour that one registered nurse commits against another in the workplace.” • Tolerance of horizontal violence is connected with hierarchical nature of abuse and continues to be unreported and overlooked because in many incidents the perpetrator involved is a supervisor, nurse manager or charge nurse. “In order to succeed, [nurses] must accept that their role is defined by those with power and authority (pitts, 1985).