IAHSS Releases Updated Healthcare Use-of-Force Guidelines
Use of force in healthcare environments involves a variety of circumstances, including patient restraint, patient elopement, involuntary commitment, criminal incidents, and other situations, according to IAHSS officials. Naturally, healthcare security officers, whether proprietary, contracted, or law enforcement, are frequently called upon to intervene in these difficult circumstances, IAHSS officials reported.
TJC Offers New Compendium of Workplace Safety Resources
Much like the TJC’s other websites offering links to resources, the site breaks out the information into federal and TJC compendiums, that in turn offer different levels of work tools on healthcare worker care and safety. For instance, the resource links to TJC’s own workplace violence website, as well as federal healthcare staff-related resources from OSHA, the CDC and NIOSH.
UC Davis Offers Free Online Course to Help Clinicians Prevent Firearm Injuries
The course explains how to have conversations with patients who have access to firearms and may be at risk of interpersonal violence, unintentional injury, or suicide, or unintentional injury, according to UC Davis. It also teaches clinicians how to intervene based on the type and level of risk of firearm violence.
Investments in Hospital Security Are Top of Mind Following Mass Shootings
Increasing security measures at hospitals can come with significant financial and logistical challenges, but there are actionable steps and investments healthcare leaders can take to ensure the safety of the staff and patients within their organizations.
PSQH Quick Poll 2022: Taking the Pulse of Nursing’s Impact on Patient Safety
As part of National Nurses Week, PSQH reached out to our readers with a few questions about how nursing impacts patient safety and healthcare quality. The Quick Poll had a total of 212 respondents.
OSHA Urges Action on Spike in Healthcare Injuries, Illnesses
There was a 38.3% increase across private industry cases in days away from work (DAFW) in 2020, the BLS reported in its Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), the bureau’s annual tally of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses. The BLS also compiles an annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).
‘Are You Going to Keep Me Safe?’ Hospital Workers Sound Alarm on Rising Violence
COVID unit nurses also have shouldered extra responsibilities during the pandemic. Duties such as feeding patients, drawing blood and cleaning rooms would typically be conducted by other hospital staffers, but nurses have pitched in on those jobs to minimize the number of workers visiting the negative-pressure rooms where COVID patients are treated.
Three Ways to Improve Workplace Violence Response Time
The bill, now with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, would require OSHA to develop an enforceable healthcare-specific standard around workplace violence prevention. Hospitals, home health agencies, long-term care facilities, and others would be required to develop and implement a comprehensive workplace violence protection plan in compliance with the standard’s requirements.
Joint Commission Issues New Workplace Violence Standards
According to The Joint Commission, 73% of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses causing days of missed work in health care are connected to workplace violence. Because incidents of workplace violence may be underreported, the actual figure is probably much higher, the group said in an August 9 blog post.
RNs to Hold National Day of Action July 21 Demanding Patient, Nurse Protections
Tens of thousands of NNU RNs are in the process of bargaining contracts that govern safe patient care conditions and their own workplace safety. The RNs say it is crucial to win these protections in writing to hold employers to prioritize occupational and public health and safety, NNU said in a press release.