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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:56 pm
Time: 11:56 pm
Results for healthcare workers
2 results foundAuthor: Victoria. Auditor-General Title: Occupational Violence Against Healthcare Workers Summary: Healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, provide a critical role in caring for the community. The community has come to expect that healthcare workers will provide care as and when needed. Occupational violence has been recognised as a significant issue for healthcare workers both in Australia and internationally. Healthcare workers face particular risks because they are at the frontline when it comes to dealing with people in stressful, unpredictable and potentially volatile situations. For example, some of the day-to-day challenges that healthcare workers may experience include dealing with patients whose clinical condition may lead to unintentional violent behaviour, concerned family members who may become agitated in response to a loved one's situation, and individuals whose drug or alcohol-fuelled aggression threatens the safety of paramedics and health professionals. It is important that healthcare workers are protected from the risks and incidence of occupational violence both for their own health and safety and to protect the continuity and quality of healthcare services provided to the community. In its 2011 policy, Preventing occupational violence: A policy framework including principles for managing weapons in Victorian health services, the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) defines occupational violence as 'Any incident where an employee is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances arising out of, or in the course of, their employment'. In this audit, we examined whether local and statewide systems are sufficiently and appropriately protecting healthcare workers from the risks and incidence of occupational violence. We focused on: - DHHS' role as manager of the Victorian health system - WorkSafe's role as the occupational health and safety regulator in supporting employers to reduce and control occupational violence risks through its education and enforcement activities - Ambulance Victoria (AV) and selected health services-with a particular focus on three hospitals-in their role as employers responsible for identifying, responding to and preventing or mitigating the risk of occupational violence to protect their workers. Details: Melbourne: Victorian Auditor-General, 2015. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2015 at: http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/publications/20150506-Occ-Violence/20150506-Occ-Violence.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/publications/20150506-Occ-Violence/20150506-Occ-Violence.pdf Shelf Number: 135635 Keywords: Healthcare WorkersOccupational ViolenceViolence PreventionWorkplace Violence |
Author: Victoria. Department of Health Title: Progress on Occupational Violence Prevention in Victorian Health Services; Including a snapshot of the work arising from the Taskforce on Violence in Nursing Summary: The Victorian Taskforce on Violence in Nursing was asked to identify and review existing systems, procedures and policies in place in Victorian health services and recommend strategies to reduce the incidence of violence. The extensive experience of the taskforce members provided a valuable contribution to the development of solutions which culminated in 29 recommendations. The department was responsible for ensuring the implementation of a number of the recommendations, whilst health services were also responsible for the direct implementation of some recommendations. The work required strong engagement with the sector and a focus that included local solutions to local problems. The department played a major role in identifying and disseminating best practice in the prevention and management of occupational violence. Clearly, health services did not start the process of implementation from a level playing field, so the department played a large role in promoting greater consistency and building capacity of health services in the prevention and management of occupational violence. Accordingly, distribution of available resources required an equitable approach, which considered the varying needs of health services. Evaluating and reporting on the implementation required the development of a program logic. At the outset of the program implementation, the department's evaluation team worked with Nursing and Midwifery Policy to develop a framework for assessing the impacts of the work undertaken. The first key rationale for the work was that occupational violence adversely impacts on health workforce retention and service provision. The second rationale for the work was that the taskforce had identified community attitudes and organisational culture as key factors contributing to violence against health workers. These factors are much harder to quantify and often there is a considerable lag time between implementation and culture change. Therefore, the feedback sought from health services post implementation included qualitative impacts in addition to the fiscal accountability requirements for program funding. This included both subjective and objective views, including responses from staff, clients and visitors. The feedback has helped to identify future requirements and options for the prevention and better management of occupational violence against nurses and health workers. The program logic for the evaluation was agreed to by the implementation reference group, which was appointed by the Minister and included representatives from health services, WorkSafe and health sector unions. The improvements sought through the implementation and evaluation through the program logic included: - improved awareness of the impact of violence in health care settings - improved collaboration between health services and police in managing violence (refer to the Building Better Partnerships Project on page 29) - improved health service understanding of and compliance with relevant legislation - improved availability and analysis of occupational violence data (refer to strategy 5 page 36). Further medium term impacts sought were targeted training, improved worker satisfaction with the management of workplace violence and maintaining the community perception of health service environment safety. This report will demonstrate the achievement of the short and medium term impacts set out in the program logic. It also outlines case studies of taskforce members and staff feedback about prevention initiatives. Details: Melbourne: Victorian Department of Health, 2012. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 16, 2015 at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/757105/1111008_Violence-in-Nursing_WEB_FA.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/757105/1111008_Violence-in-Nursing_WEB_FA.pdf Shelf Number: 137289 Keywords: Healthcare Workers Occupational Violence Violence PreventionWorkplace Violence |