Prioritizing safety culture

Safety is defined because the state of being protected against or not causing danger, injury, risk, or loss (Joint Commission, 2021). Safety from physical and psychological harm have to be ensured in all workplaces. Once we are at our worst, affected by illness or injury, it’s to health care professionals that we turn to for healing. Nonetheless, these same healthcare employees are subject to attacks of their workplaces. Although health care employees often support one another while working in difficult conditions, additionally they feel the impact of lateral violence from co-workers (USBLS, 2018). The news reports cases of physical and psychological harm to health care employees every week. The stress of workplace violence also contributes to the nurse suicide crisis. Violence against medical experts must end. What will be done to advertise a culture of safety and well-being wherever healthcare employees work?

Let’s address the essential need for psychological safety.

Lateral violence, also often called “bullying” or “incivility” in nursing, continues to be present in our occupation (Joint Commission, 2021). Between 40% and 70% of nurses experience lateral violence of their profession, with 27% of respondents reporting that they’ve experienced it within the last six months (Goh, Hosier, & Zhong, 2022). refers to a way of security that lets you speak up, take risks, and make mistakes without fear of negative consequences (Bush, 2018). Psychological safety shouldn’t be a luxury; it’s imperative to create a culture that works to enhance outcomes and reduce harm to patients. All healthcare teams make mistakes; nonetheless, many teams don’t report these errors for fear of retaliation. People working in an environment characterised by a culture of psychological safety are more willing to talk out. Organizations that support and encourage all team members to speak in regards to the need to vary practices and processes typically have a culture that promotes well-being and safety (Bush, 2018).

We must protect healthcare employees from physical harm.

In keeping with the World Health Organization, as many as 38% of nurses experience violence in healthcare during their profession, and healthcare employees are overall six times more prone to be vulnerable to violence within the workplace in comparison with other industries (WHO, 2022). OSHA recently reported that one in 4 nurses has been the victim of an on-the-job assault (OSHA, 2023). These statistics should not surprising; areas reminiscent of the emergency department, psychiatric wards, long-term care facilities, and waiting rooms witness probably the most violence because these are areas with high levels of stress (Lim et al., 2022). The danger of violence against health care employees increases when there may be a stressful situation involving patients, relations or other visitors, long waiting times to see a health care skilled, overcrowding in treatment areas and waiting rooms, or cultural and cultural communication problems. language differences (Lim et al., 2022). For employees, the chance of violence increases when there should not enough experienced staff with adequate training to take care of escalating situations (Lim et al., 2022).

Let’s care for the security of health care employees.

Every healthcare employee deserves to be secure on the job. Healthcare organizations support this mission by investing in ways to maintain healthcare employees physically and mentally secure. Having an adequate variety of experienced and properly trained staff is paramount to making sure the security of healthcare employees. The usage of technology and tools may also help ensure staff safety across the institution and versatile staffing when needed. Providing more security officers and training them in de-escalation techniques is very important for workers safety and reduces the chance of injury to the person or people causing the situation. Many healthcare organizations install metal detectors to guard their employees and patients from weapons. Despite these precautions, some acts of violence will still occur. In such cases, affected healthcare employees should work with their managers to pursue legal remedies.

Physical and mental safety in healthcare can only work if the culture supports it, leadership is visible throughout the healthcare organization, is open to conversation, and has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying, physical violence, and verbal threats and harassment. Everyone who enters these doors must act on a basis of mutual respect.

It’s time to keep healthcare employees secure by ending violence where we practice and promote mental and physical safety for all.

Bush, M. C. (2018). An amazing place to work for everybody. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishing House.

Goh, H. S., Hosier, S., and Zhang, H. (2022). Incidence, causes and consequences of workplace bullying amongst nurses – review summary. , (14), 8256. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148256

Lim, M. C., Jeffree, M. S., Saupin, S. S., Giloi, N., & Lukman, C. A. (2022). Workplace violence in health care settings: Risk aspects, implications, and customary preventive measures. , , 103727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.103727

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2023). Workplace violence. US Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/healthcare/workplace-violence/

Joint Commission. (2021, June). Quick Safety 24: There isn’t a place for abuse in healthcare. https://www.jointcommission.org/resources/news-and-multimedia/newsletters/newsletters/quick-safety/quick-safety-issue-24-bullying-has-no-place-in-health-care/bullying- there-is-no-place-in-healthcare/

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), (2018). Workplace violence in health care. 2018. https://www.bls.gov/iif/factsheets/workplace-violence-healthcare-2018-chart2-data.htm