Protecting health care workers from workplace violence

A new report by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health responds to increasingly common violence directed at physicians and other health care professionals where they work, looking at the trends in violence, solutions that have been tested and barriers to addressing the problem. The AMA adopted policy to help prevent violent acts in the health care setting. An unacceptable hazard of the job The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that workplace assaults from 2011 to 2013 were 23,540-5,630 annually, with upwards of 70 percent occurring in health care and social service settings. Health care workers are three to four times more likely than other private sector employees to sustain injuries that involve days of work missed. “Emergency department, mental health and long-term care providers are among the most frequent victims of patient and visitor attacks,” the report said. “A nationwide survey of emergency medicine residents and attending physicians found that 78 percent of respondents had reported at least on workplace violence act in the previous year, and 21 percent had reported more than one type of violent act.” Addressing violence: Barriers and steps One of the biggest obstacles to fully understanding the scope of the problem and taking corrective action is the fact that many incidents go unreported. “Reasons for not reporting can be as simple as health care workers not knowing what constitutes an act of workplace violence or a reporting proc...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news