Survey of emergency department practices in Pennsylvania hospitals to protect patients and staff
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Pennsylvania patient safety advisory
- Contributor(s):
- Martindell, Denise. Pennsylvania. Patient Safety Authority. ECRI (Organization) Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
- Publication:
- [Harrisburg, Pa.] : Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, c2011
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Emergency Service, Hospital -- organization & administration Organizational Culture Patient Safety Security Measures Violence -- prevention & control Data Collection Guideline Adherence Personnel, Hospital Telecommunications Violence -- statistics & numerical data Workplace Humans Pennsylvania United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The incidence of workplace violence experienced by emergency department (ED) staff is well documented. Protecting ED staff from violent individuals will enable staff to provide safe and optimal care to patients. Equally important are the safeguards that protect patients and visitors from violent acts from any source in the ED. In June 2011, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority conducted a survey to study violence protection practices in Pennsylvania acute care hospitals. The survey also examined potential barriers to compliance. Survey findings showed potential gaps in violence protection practices. For example, mandatory violence prevention training for ED staff was reported by only 36% of respondents. Eighty-seven percent of respondents indicated that the ED did not have a designated area for holding prisoners. Thirty-four percent of respondents reported that hands-free personal communication devices and other communication equipment, such as walkie-talkies, were used in the ED. Ninety-three percent of respondents reported that ED staff did not wear a personal alarm. Gaps in violence protection practices identified through the survey suggest opportunities for improving violence protection practices to increase the safety of both ED staff and patients. At the facility level, awareness of knowledge gaps and/or compliance gaps as compared to best practices will also facilitate targeted allocation of resources.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (pages 126-130))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101574061 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101574061