A patient at TriStar Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tenn., was charged with aggravated assault after police say he cut a security officer at the hospital.
Only 72 percent of healthcare providers believe their organization’s disaster plan is comprehensive enough to cover a variety of disaster scenarios inside the organization and across the community.
The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems has designed a detailed, 172-page toolkit in collaboration with nurses and doctors associations and organized labor.
The International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) recently released new guidance on how to help healthcare officials address visitor and patient violence in hospitals. Patient violence – whether it is physical or verbal – not only threatens human life and the well-being of hospital staff but also threatens patient safety and creates an unhealthy work environment.
Violence perpetrated against employees by patients, their families, and unauthorized visitors – including estranged members of employees’ own families – tops the list of concerns and threats for healthcare security directors.
Hospitals can be dangerous places. From 2012 to 2014, healthcare institutions reported a 40 percent increase in violent crime, with more than 10,000 incidents mostly directed at employees.
Effective April 1, 2018, California became the first state to require all acute-care hospitals and skilled-nursing facilities to develop and implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans.
“Violence stemming from patients and patient visitors present considerable risk and concern to the healthcare industry. Healthcare Facilities (HCFs) should establish specific violence prevention and aggression management policies, processes and practices to deter, identify and manage violent events.”