Recommended Intervention & Prevention Strategies for Healthcare Professionals
Rather than merely responding following an incident, the onus has changed to prevention strategies that can stop workplace violence before it ever occurs. With that in mind, here are a few highlights of popular intervention and prevention strategies utilized in some of the country’s leading facilities. Education and communication are the keys to prevention.
We’ve also included a few tips to reduce the impact of those incidents that do occur.
Primary Prevention: Use educational resources and other strategies to identify and reduce vulnerabilities in order to prevent workplace violence.
☐ Participate in workplace violence prevention programs
☐ Understand, engage and develop related workplace policy and procedures,
☐ Participate in workplace violence education programs and continuing education courses
☐ Learn to assess & identify danger in the workplace: question, anticipate, prevent, respond
☐ know how to use environmental controls to both prevent and reduce violent incidents
☐ Incorporate self-care and wellness into your life
☐ Remain open to receiving feedback from consumers, family members, colleagues
Secondary Prevention: Implement and use existing strategies and processes that will help reduce the negative impact of workplace violence.
☐ Help implement a comprehensive workplace violence program
☐ Use crisis intervention strategies
☐ Assess, plan, and intervene to reduce the potential for workplace violence
☐ Use existing administrative controls
☐ Use existing environmental controls (visitor access, panic buttons, etc.)
☐ Use the approved reporting system
☐ Report concerns about weaknesses in the system
☐ Improve processes and communication
Tertiary Prevention: Engage in and recommend activities to reduce the consequences of workplace violence.
☐ Engage in the continued improvement of workplace violence prevention programs
☐ Participate, as appropriate, in post-incident meetings
☐ Use appropriate counseling programs after an incident of workplace violence
☐ Refer others to grief counseling or other mental/physical health services as needed
☐ Express sympathy and provide support to bystanders and survivors
Source:
2015 American Nurses Association – Professional Issues Panel on Incivility, Bullying, and Workplace Violence
