Recently released survey results from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) show that bullying, intimidation, and other types of disrespectful behavior remain a problem in the healthcare workplace, and continue to erode professional communication, which is essential to patient safety and quality.

 Trinitas Regional Medical Center, a full-service healthcare facility serving Central New Jersey, is taking a novel approach to protecting its staff from combative patients, utilizing a Real-time Locating System (RTLS) from Versus Technology, Inc.

The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation has released a report focusing on the health and safety of the health care workforce and calling upon health care organizations to initiate broad organizational changes to reduce physical and psychological harm to health care workers. Through the Eyes of the Workforce: Creating Joy, Meaning, and Safer Health Care contends that patient safety is inextricably linked to health care workers’ safety and well-being because caregivers who suffer disrespect, humiliation, or physical harm are more likely to make errors or fail to follow safety practices.

Despite the best efforts of many, disruptive behavior is still a common and pervasive problem throughout the health care industry. To counteract this, the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) released a new book to help physician leaders identify and eliminate disruptive behavior.

It appears that long, arduous hours in the hospital are causing more than stress and fatigue among doctors-in-training — they’re crashing, or nearly crashing, their cars after work, according to new Mayo Clinic research. Nearly half of the roughly 300 Mayo Clinic residents polled during the course of their residencies reported nearly getting into a motor vehicle crash during their training, and about 11 percent were actually involved in a traffic accident.

By Susan Carr

The “Lean” approach to process improvement—derived from the Toyota Production System (TPS) developed by Taiichi Ohno and others in the 1950s, 60s and 70s—continues to establish a record of success with healthcare organizations.

In the 10 years since the passage of the federal Needlestick Safety and Protection Act, much progress has been made to reduce the risk of healthcare worker exposure to bloodborne pathogens—yet significant challenges remain. Earlier in March, The International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia and the American Nurses Association (ANA), along with colleagues across the spectrum of healthcare, agreed on a Consensus Statement and Call to Action to address these issues.

The latest release of an ongoing survey of more than 7,000 emergency room nurses nationwide finds that rates of physical violence and verbal abuse against nurses did not decrease between May 2009 to January 2011.