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.

Environmental disasters/emergencies have the potential to disrupt services for extensive periods. These hazards may even require relocation to alternative locations. When completing the HVA, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when considering environmental hazards. Environmental disasters may not just be natural disasters such as tornados or hurricanes. They may also be gas leaks, explosions and failures of utilities such as electricity. Environmental disasters could also be man-made hazards such as bombs and bioterrorism. Possible scenarios can be numerous and it can be easy to get overwhelmed. Care should be taken to develop your organization’s response, contingency plan, communication plan and staff training for each likely scenario.

Medical emergencies are the most common event physician office practices should be prepared to respond to. Unfortunately, individuals may arrive who have underestimated the severity of their symptoms, there is no emergency room nearby or they lack the resources to go to the emergency room.

Violence in the Emergency Department: Panel of Experts

This session will build the Violence in the ED: The Magnitude and Impact conversation. Their discussion is based on results of a recent survey that was conducted across the membership of the LHA Trust Funds and will be further augmented with open-mic questions and concerns from the members of the audience.

Topics include: Violence and Victims, The Aggressors and Causes, Triggers, Real-Time Experiences, The Aftermath, and Prevention.

A document developed jointly by the Emergency Nurses Association and the American Organization of Nurse Executives to address healthcare issues with workplace violence. The toolkit discusses how to deal with lateral violence as well as patient and family violence in healthcare. This is a valuable guide for nurse leaders to address zero-tolerance policies, risk factors for the organization, workplace violence prevention plans and staff training.

An alert published by The Joint Commission (TJC) in 2010 and revised in 2019 to address violence in healthcare. TJC compiled information from 365 reports of violence in healthcare facilities submitted to their Sentinel Event Database from 2010 – 2018. This alert contains information regarding contributing factors and recommended actions that healthcare organizations can take to reduce the risk of violence.

A resource manual created by the Public Services Health & Safety Association to address workplace violence. The toolkit was designed to assist healthcare organizations in developing effective security programs. This comprehensive guide contains extensive information such as roles and responsibilities of the security program, policy templates, security guard training information, a list of necessary policies/procedures and many other valuable resources.

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.