Rachel Odes, Susan Chapman, Sara Ackerman, Robert Harrison, OiSaeng Hong
{"title":"Differences in Hospitals' Workplace Violence Incident Reporting Practices: A Mixed Methods Study.","authors":"Rachel Odes, Susan Chapman, Sara Ackerman, Robert Harrison, OiSaeng Hong","doi":"10.1177/15271544221088248","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Workplace violence (WV) is a significant and growing problem for health care workers. Increased recognition of the need for improved protections has led to policy initiatives at the state and federal levels, including national Joint Commission requirements that went into effect January 2022. California's WV prevention legislation was phased in during 2017-2018 and requires hospitals to use a new incident reporting system, the Workplace Violent Incident Reporting System (WVIRS) for Hospitals. We analyzed WVIRS data collected during the first three years of its implementation, July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2020. In addition, we collected qualitative data from six California hospitals/hospital systems during 2019-2020 to better understand reporting practices. Over the three-year period, the 413 hospitals using the WVIRS reported between zero and six incidents per staffed bed. Sixteen hospitals (3.9%) reported two or more incidents per staffed bed while the rest reported fewer than two incidents. Qualitative analysis identified that reporting procedures vary considerably among hospitals. Several organizations rely on workers to complete incident reports electronically while others assign managers or security personnel to data collection. Some hospitals appear to report only those incidents involving physical harm to the worker. Regulatory guidance for reporting practices and hospitals' commitment to thorough data collection may improve consistency. As hospitals throughout the U.S. consider practice changes to comply with new WV standards, those engaged in implementation efforts should look closely at reporting practices. Greater consistency in reporting across facilities can help to build evidence for best practices and lead to safety improvements.</p>","PeriodicalId":53177,"journal":{"name":"Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice","volume":"23 2","pages":"98-108"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9234774/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15271544221088248","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/3/23 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Workplace violence (WV) is a significant and growing problem for health care workers. Increased recognition of the need for improved protections has led to policy initiatives at the state and federal levels, including national Joint Commission requirements that went into effect January 2022. California's WV prevention legislation was phased in during 2017-2018 and requires hospitals to use a new incident reporting system, the Workplace Violent Incident Reporting System (WVIRS) for Hospitals. We analyzed WVIRS data collected during the first three years of its implementation, July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2020. In addition, we collected qualitative data from six California hospitals/hospital systems during 2019-2020 to better understand reporting practices. Over the three-year period, the 413 hospitals using the WVIRS reported between zero and six incidents per staffed bed. Sixteen hospitals (3.9%) reported two or more incidents per staffed bed while the rest reported fewer than two incidents. Qualitative analysis identified that reporting procedures vary considerably among hospitals. Several organizations rely on workers to complete incident reports electronically while others assign managers or security personnel to data collection. Some hospitals appear to report only those incidents involving physical harm to the worker. Regulatory guidance for reporting practices and hospitals' commitment to thorough data collection may improve consistency. As hospitals throughout the U.S. consider practice changes to comply with new WV standards, those engaged in implementation efforts should look closely at reporting practices. Greater consistency in reporting across facilities can help to build evidence for best practices and lead to safety improvements.
期刊介绍:
Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal that explores the multiple relationships between nursing and health policy. It serves as a major source of data-based study, policy analysis and discussion on timely, relevant policy issues for nurses in a broad variety of roles and settings, and for others outside of nursing who are interested in nursing-related policy issues.