Common gaps in WPV prevention programs

Fragmented data. Unclear accountability. Underreporting. These are common challenges that workplace violence (WPV) prevention programs must address to keep up with Joint Commission and OSHA expectations.

The three most common gaps that David Corbin, owner and principal consultant at Dynamic Security Strategies, LLC, sees when hospitals attempt to align their WPV programs with Joint Commission standards are as follows:

1. Lack of a single, accountable leader: Hospitals often have their WPV programs led by committee, namely the safety committee or the WPV committee. This is problematic, as there is no single accountable leader who is truly in charge of the WPV program. The chair or co-chairs of these committees typically have other higher-priority work responsibilities, so they don’t have the focus or time needed to run an effective program. Hospitals need a WPV program leader with a full-time or true half-time focus on running the program. 
2. Fragmented data: Data in many hospitals is captured via several systems that are siloed and don’t talk to one another. For example, the hospital has a safety reporting system, security has an incident reporting system, and occupational health is tracking employee injuries in a separate system. This means that data tabulation needs to be done manually to avoid over- or undercounting incidents. Also, the data collected by each system isn’t in the same format, making it hard to trend and digest.
3. Lack of reporting: WPV is seriously underreported in most hospitals. The data that is collected through incident reports is only telling half the story. I typically tell hospital leaders they should take their WPV incident stats and double them to get a more accurate picture of what’s happening in their organization. More incident reports are better when it comes to WPV data collection and analysis. This requires a coordinated, ongoing push to get employees to report violence. If employees don’t have trust in leadership to address violence, [if] report forms are overly complicated, and/or if employees aren’t given time to file reports, [hospital leaders aren’t] going to get reports. You can’t understand your hospital’s violence and comply with Joint Commission data requirements without good data.

Editor’s note: This article was excerpted from our Medical Environment Update newsletter.