Addressing Workplace Violence and Staff Safety

Healthcare facilities are high-stress environments. This is one of many factors putting healthcare workers at higher risk of experiencing incidents of workplace violence, which can come in numerous forms – including (but certainly not limited to) physical assault, abusive language, threats, sexual language, verbal harassment, and racial slurs.

A workplace violence survey conducted across the health system in 2022 shed light into experiences and concerns among staff. Many employees shared that they have encountered verbal, emotional, or physical assault and that the instances often involved a patient and/or visitor. Our own Nursing Practice Advisory Council (NPAC) voiced concerns that mirrored survey feedback.

At GBMC HealthCare, the safety of our workforce (and everyone that visits our facilities) is critical. You cannot experience the joy of helping others if you do not feel safe. Several initiatives to improve staff safety are already underway (with more to come!). Thank you to Cate O’Connor-Devlin, MSN, RN, Director of Emergency Preparedness, Safety, and Security; Carolyn Keller, MS, RN, NE-BC, FNE-A, Clinical Nurse Manager - Unit 47; and Nicholas Kokkinakos, Senior Manager of Safety and Security; for their leadership in these efforts. And thank you to the entire Workplace Violence Committee, comprised of representatives across all three work systems and our Nursing Practice Advisory Council, for guiding us in our improvement.

Some key changes that have been implemented or are on the horizon are highlighted below.

Easier Reporting

With the launch of the new STAR incident reporting tool, staff can easily submit a formal Workplace Violence Incident Report from their mobile device, computer, or the Infoweb. A dedicated workplace violence icon was added to the homepage of the tool for convenient reporting, and staff can check the status of their reports.

Training Opportunities

Although we’ve offered training opportunities for higher risk areas, like the Emergency Department and Unit 47 (formerly Unit 36) for some time now, we plan to enhance training for these teams. Additional workplace violence prevention courses have been scheduled and can be registered for in NetLearning. We participate in “Stop the Bleed” training, which will be incorporating workplace violence topics, and in the future, we plan to incorporate clinical self-defense training into classes.

We will provide more hands-on training opportunities to include simulation drills within the Simulation Innovation Learning Center to help staff to feel as confident as possible in difficult scenarios and educate them about how to stay safe and de-escalate situations.

Policies and Leadership Support

In November 2022, GBMC launched a zero-tolerance policy for verbal or physical workplace violence. Staff can view the full policy in PolicyStat for details.

In June 2023, GBMC implemented a new policy to help clinical staff navigate challenging situations. The policy introduced additional resources including a Behavioral Support Team, that can advise on appropriate next steps when a patient is exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Similar to an ethics consultation, staff can request advice from the Behavioral Support Team for non-urgent situations. Again, I encourage staff to visit the Infoweb and review the full policy in PolicyStat to become familiar with all available resources.

In addition to policy changes, we have added a workplace violence metric to our vision dashboard, so we routinely analyze data and continuously improve.

Thank you to all our staff, patients, and visitors for your support in making GBMC HealthCare a safe environment for both work and healing.