Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
Evaluation research designs such as randomized experimental designs are typically not feasible in workplace violence research and none have been conducted to date. Consequently, standard methods for rating evidence leave employers without a key to translate the available research into tangible programs. Regulatory agencies, employers, and nurses require evidence in order to commit resources to workplace violence prevention programs. A framework based on national guidelines (CDC/NIOSH, 2006; OSHA, 2004; The Joint Commission, 2009) allows health systems and individual facilities to address workplace violence by customizing their own strategies for on-going hazard analysis; hazard control; employee training and recordkeeping; and evaluation.
Workplace violence, like societal violence, injures communities such as workplaces and takes a demonstrable toll on patients, visitors, and staff. Employers must acknowledge that workplace violence exists and seek system-wide solutions. The framework described here will hopefully be useful to discover potential and actual risks and issues unique to a given facility. These facilities will then have to develop customized strategies based upon individual hazard analyses. We present this framework to provide a process which, when implemented, will help to satisfy regulators and demonstrate a reduction in risk and injury.
Discussion
Evaluation research designs such as randomized experimental designs are typically not feasible in workplace violence research and none have been conducted to date. Consequently, standard methods for rating evidence leave employers without a key to translate the available research into tangible programs. Regulatory agencies, employers, and nurses require evidence in order to commit resources to workplace violence prevention programs. A framework based on national guidelines (CDC/NIOSH, 2006; OSHA, 2004; The Joint Commission, 2009) allows health systems and individual facilities to address workplace violence by customizing their own strategies for on-going hazard analysis; hazard control; employee training and recordkeeping; and evaluation.
Workplace violence, like societal violence, injures communities such as workplaces and takes a demonstrable toll on patients, visitors, and staff. Employers must acknowledge that workplace violence exists and seek system-wide solutions. The framework described here will hopefully be useful to discover potential and actual risks and issues unique to a given facility. These facilities will then have to develop customized strategies based upon individual hazard analyses. We present this framework to provide a process which, when implemented, will help to satisfy regulators and demonstrate a reduction in risk and injury.