Healthcare Safety Toolkit Library

Violence in healthcare has escalated over the years and constitutes approximately 74% of workplace violence events reported by Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is imperative that organizational leaders develop plans to prevent violence and train staff to identify and de-escalate violent behaviors as well as respond appropriately when an event occurs. This toolkit contains many resources to help facilitate the development of comprehensive violence prevention programs within your organization.

Maternal health encompasses the health of the pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period in women’s healthcare. Healthcare provider’s goals in maternal care are to reduce morbidity and mortality by providing safe, quality services to the mother and her baby. This objective can be accomplished by identifying risks, educating patients and following recommended guidelines of evidence-based practice. This toolkit supplies resources to benefit in the improvement of maternal health.

These clinical practice guidelines have been developed to provide recommendations for prescribing opioid pain medications in the primary care setting while establishing safer, more effective treatment of chronic pain.

Pain in the pediatric population can be challenging, but it cannot be ignored. These evidence-based guidelines can help organizations design policies and procedures to improve the management of pain in children. The guidelines provide an overview of pain classifications, evaluation of pain in children and recommended treatments according to the level of pain. In addition, background information is provided to support clinical recommendations.

A sample policy, developed by the state of Pennsylvania, addresses the appropriate management of pain in pediatric patients. The policy uses evidence-based practice guidelines to address the use of opioids and the prevention of opioid use disorder while providing an overview of pain in children.

The Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) requires dispensers (pharmacies as well as other practitioners dispensing to their patients) of controlled substances and other drugs of concern to report the essential data elements of those transactions to the program. The program houses this data in a secure database and makes that information available to authorized users — primarily prescribers and dispensers caring for their own patients.

This downloadable document will walk you through the process of making an inquiry within the PMP Aware database.

Pain management with opioids has been associated with errors that have resulted in over-sedation, respiratory depression and death. Nurses are in a key position to assess, monitor, educate and advocate for patients in all clinical settings. Therefore, nurses should be educated about the concerns related to these high-risk medications and the key role they play in keeping patients safe.

This presentation is designed to help organizations educate their nursing staff regarding the dangers of opioid therapy and how they can impact patient care in their current role. The presentation would be best supplemented with the addition of your own organizational policies surrounding the management of opioids. Feel free to download this presentation for use on your internal LMS.

A guide, developed by the CDC, to assist outpatient healthcare organizations to improve infection prevention. The guide is based on evidence-based guidelines and represents the minimum infection prevention expectations in the outpatient setting.

Although it is healthcare's goal to maintain a safe environment at all times, violence remains a significant concern today. It is vital to implement processes to prevent workplace violence. Security practices can include an array of methods. The following documents provide best practices and alternative approaches that may be applied when handling violent encounters.

Reducing the risk of encountering an active shooter situation is important to any business, especially healthcare. These resources provide tools on how to plan what to do in the event of an active shooter/violent situation.

Acitve shooter events are increasing more and more across the U.S. and the experts have developed tools to help the lay person identify a potential active shooter as a risk reduction strategy.

Healthcare organizations should take the possiblity of an active shooter event occuring in their facility very seriously. These resources provide key tactics on managing violent and disruptive behavior as a risk reduction process.

Active shooter training is vital for all staff in a healthcare organization as they are the eyes and ears of the facility. These resources help ensure staff are trained and prepared to address violent/aggressive behavior/situations.