• EC: – SPECIAL: PREVENTING VIOLENCE IN THE HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENT [REF: RN, SFT, StEd] EC News November 2013, Vol 16, #11, Pg 6 & 9  JCe1311_B10

This special section includes two articles:

• Violence Code Reload: Ft. Lauderdale hospital launches successful new violence prevention program[®]

• On Course to Curb Workplace Violence: Free new NIOSH online class offers valuable tips and CE credits[®]

     The first article describes the efforts made by a general medical/surgical hospital to decrease staff injuries and reduce its need to activate violence code calls.  Essentially, they defined 3 levels of violence codes and established a 5-person rapid response team to support its 2 highest levels. The highest level can only be activated by an RN and includes a physician for PRN medication ordering.  Needless to say, significant amounts of training were also required for all staff in order to effectively implement the 3 levels and response team.  More violence drills were also included.
     The second article provides more detail on the free online course from NIOSH, Workplace Violence Prevention for Nurses. (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/violence/training_nurses.html) It was launched in August and reported in the 8/21/13 issue of Joint Commission online. The course developed over 4 years consists of 13 units including lesson text, video scenarios and brief unit quizzes.  It takes about 15 minutes per unit to complete, but there is no completion deadline and you can bookmark your progress to pick up again at any time.  By completing the course and successfully passing a comprehensive post test, 2.6 hours of CE credits can be earned for nurses and 0.3 CE credits to any health care professional, or 2.5 category I CE credits to health education specialists through the International Association for Continuing Education.
Tip: Establish baseline rates for staff (and patient) injuries at your facility and determine whether or not that rate is increasing. If so, compare your current violence response practices to those in the first article.  
Tip: Consider incorporating the online nurse training into annual nurse training events and/or portions of periodic nursing meetings.
See also: RTN1309_B6_Nursing Violence Prevention Course