fINAL SUBMISSION ASSIGNMENT 4

HLTH 3611 Professional GrowthAssignment 4 Managing and Preventing Violence in Healthcare Settings Kuldeep Kaur Mutta2019Submitted To: Virginia JacklinThompson – River University — Open Learning Managing and Preventing Violence in Healthcare Settings According to World Health Organisation (2019), Health care workers are at high risk of violence all over the world especially the nurses and caregivers who are directly involved in patient care. Between 8% to 38% of health workers experience physical violence at some point of their careers (World Health organisation ,2019). Physical violence is defined as an “act of hitting, shoving, pushing or kicking a person” (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2019). “It is evident that workplace violence has detrimental effects on the health care providers as well as the care the future patients will receive” (Abbort and Brinkmann, 2017, conclusion). Costigan (2019), an emergency physician states, “workplace violence in the health care setting is a public emergency as it is severely affecting the providers, patients and health care institutes and should be immediately addressed by the health care leaders” (para .8). According to me, considering the severity of the issue, any steps taken by the health management alone will not be enough to solve this problem. Thus, I strongly believe that the health care organisations in Canada need to work in collaboration with the provincial and federal government to institute violence prevention programs and policies that include strategies and interventions like risk assessment , providing safety and health training to stop physical violence in the healthcare sector and thus keep workers and clients safe. Key Termsa)Workplace : Workplace means any land ,premises ,location or thing at ,upon or near which a worker works .In healthcare settings this can include an example of hospital , long –term care home ,patient or client home in which caregiver works .(Occupational Health and Safety Act ,2019). It does not include or apply to the work done in or around a private residence by its owner or occupants. b) Workplace violence: Workplace violence can be defined as “any act in which a person is threatened, abused, intimidated or assault in his or her employment”. It can be in form of threatening behaviour, verbal abuse or threats or physical assaults. (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2019). Current statistics The statistical data given by Ontario Nurses Association (2016), shows that the number of lost -time injuries by workplace violence rise to 27% in period of four years that is from 639 in (2013) to 816 in (2016). In 2016 alone ,health care workers missed more than 69 years (25,300 days )of work because of workplace violence and harassment .(ONA ,2016) .In 2016, another survey performed on more than 770 frontline nurses and Personal support workers in Ontario in (2016) based on the data from Ontario council of hospital Union, reveals that 68% of them experienced at least one incidence of violence, 75% witnessed violence against co- worker, 42% experienced incidence of sexual harassment/ assault whereas 26% of them lost time at work due to violence on the workplace. (Mojtehedzadeh, 2017). In 2018, survey finding of emergency department shows that 7 out of 10 emergency physicians believes that emergency department violence in increasing ,80% believe that violence harmed patient care and 47% reported of being personally assaulted at work (American College of Emergency Physician ,2018). According to OSHA (2015), the data collected from Bureau of Labour Statistics shows that in the year 2002 to 2013, the incidents of serious workplace violence were four times more common in healthcare than in overall private industry. Also, 2011 to 2013, U.S. healthcare workers suffered 15,000 to 20,000 workplace-violence-related injuries every year that required time away from work for treatment and recovery of series injuries. (Bureau of Labour Statistics ,2013). The data released at the IAHSS 51st Annual conference and Exhibition in Orlando, found the assault rate against healthcare workers has increased from 9.3 incidents in 2016 to 11.7 in 2018 which is the highest rate that IAHSS has ever recorded since 2012. (Rock ,2019; International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety ,2019). The Impact of workplace violence on health care providers The incidents of violence at workplace can lead to serious psychological consequences like post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression which can result in decreased job satisfaction, burnout, mental exhaustion and disengagement, proving very detrimental to the health care providers. (Costigan ,2019, para 2). A study done in University of Montreal in 2014, found severe effects such as post –traumatic stress, between 5% to 32 %, in the survivors of workplace violence and many healthcare providers found to be afraid and loss of pleasure working with patients, showing consequences in terms of quality of care (University of Montreal, 2014). Many health care survivors after the incident of violence admit that they experience lack of concentration at work resulting in medication error, increased patients fall and rise in errors in providing patient care. (Abbort and Brinkmann, 2017). Development of comprehensive workplace violence Prevention ProgramOccupational Health and safety (2015 p.3), recommend that every health care facility must create a violence prevention program that contains five important components as mentioned below:i) Management commitment and Employee Participation: This can be achieved by establishing violence control programs, appointing trained leaders to facilitate program and providing ongoing support for effectiveness of the program.ii) Workplace Analysis and Hazard Identification: This is performed for risks identification through periodic re-assessments and evaluations at workplace.iii) Hazard Prevention and control: This should be done according to violence prevention Program to eliminate workplace hazards. iv) Safety and Health training: Workers should be trained to identify hazards, providing them techniques to deal with violent situations and proper reporting of the problems.v) Record Keeping and Program evaluation: This is a vital step in any Violence Prevention Program which facilitates to find various solutions to ongoing problems and finding shortcomings for areas of improvement. All above five steps comes under OSHA violence prevention policy plan (OSHA ,2015).Need for Collaborative actions by Health care organisations and government to prevent violence in healthcare The latest revised recommendations and practice guidelines by RNAO (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, 2019) which are submitted to federal Standing Committee on Health, mentions the need of developing a national strategy to reduce violence in health care sector. (RNAO,2019). RNAO acclaims that the provincial and territorial government should make and enforce legislation that promotes a violence prevention policy along with reviewing the existing regulations in collaboration with regulatory bodies, unions and health service organisations. (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario ,2019). RNAO also states that the government need to support the health organisations in developing and implementing the risk –assessment tools, applying appropriate policies and codes of conduct along with educating health care workers as a part of strategies for violence prevention. (RNAO, 2019). According to Canadian Medical Association (CMA ,2019) ,a written appeal was presented to the chairman of Health committee in the House of Commons on May 2019 where the president of CMA submitted the recommendations for consideration and asked the Health committee to support the appeal to amend the Criminal code of Canada for assault against health care providers ( Canadian Medical Association ,2019, p.1) .In this letter the CMA supports the idea and the need for the government to get involved in the violence prevention approach by supporting the petition passed by Dr Dough Eyolfson (2019) “to develop a pan –Canadian Prevention Strategy to address growing incidents of violence against health care workers” (Canadian Medical Association, 2019, p .2). In the report issued by Standing Committee on Health in June (2019), it provided the recommendations that outlines the ways by which the federal government can collaborate with provinces and territories and Health care stakeholders to address the issue of healthcare violence. (Health Committee ,2019, p.1). According to the Standing Health, Committee (2019), the witnesses who attended the meeting recommended the ways in which the federal government can support the violence prevention practices in health care settings. These are mentioned below:The federal government could support the education and training of health care professionals by developing national standards for violence prevention training for the health care workers. (Health Committee ,2019, p.11)The government should undertake the violence risk assessments of health care organisations and departments and can help by providing required funding for violence prevention programs. (Health committee ,2019, p.11)The government could help in creating avenues to share best practices across jurisdictions (Health Committee, 2019, p.11)The government should provide enough funding to the research department for evaluating the implementation of best practices for violence prevention. (Health Committee ,2019, p.11). Marilyn Gladu(2019) , one of the conservative member of Canadian Parliament from Ontario and member of standing committee , gave her statement on the Standing Health Committee’s report (2019) in the media release saying that “Violence against health care workers is a serious problem which is causing many health care providers to leave their profession especially at a time where we need even more workers as our population ages. The recommendations in the report of Standing Health Committee ,2019 that is passed in the House of Commons are the actions that government can take to address the issue” (Gladu,2019). ConclusionThe rising incidence of violence against health care workers is a serious concern which is unacceptable as it not only puts a negative impact on the physical and psychological well-being of health –care staff but also affects their job motivation. (World Health Organisation ,2019). “The problem of violence against health professionals is widespread in the Canadian health system and requires a systematic approach” (Registered Nurses association of Ontario, 2019). I strongly believe that the problem of violence in healthcare sector is a serious issue which is prevalent across worldwide including Canada and the collaborative efforts of the Health care organisations along with the government will make a difference. ReferencesAbbot, A., & Brinkmann, J. (2017). Workplace Violence Against Healthcare Providers. Retrieved December 18, 2019, from https://www.opedge.com/Articles/ViewArticle/2017-10-01/workplace-violence-against-healthcare-providers.Brophy, J. T., Keith, M. 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