Helping Sick People Can Get You Hurt

Free On-line Violence Prevention Training for Nurses...

The NIOSH Science Blog is not updated very often but when it is I always pay close attention.  Today they posted on a topic near and dear to yours truly - violence in the workplace.  Anyone who's been paying attention to this issue for past couple decades knows that healthcare and social service professionals serving disordered, intoxicated, pain-wracked, angry, or frightened patients is a recipe for a shiner, or worse. 

In 2012, the Healthcare and Social Assistance (HCSA) sector was amongst the largest industry sectors in the U.S. employing an estimated 19.4 million workers (13.5% of the total workforce)[1]. On average, over the last decade, U.S. healthcare workers have accounted for two-thirds of the nonfatal workplace violence injuries in all industries involving days away from work [2]. Healthcare workers face the risk of both physical violence and non-physical violence, such as verbal abuse, on the job. These numbers represent only the assaults that resulted in time away from work and not the less severe physical injuries or the psychological trauma that HCSA workers experience from workplace violence. Additionally, these data only capture the reported incidents. The literature suggests that the number of assaults reported by healthcare workers is greatly under-reported.

The CDC (aka the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has developed a brief and free on-line course to help providers help without getting hurt.  In true federal style they wasted no money on titling their new program, Workplace Violence Prevention for Nurses - CDC Course Number WB1865.  Still, their heart and our tax dollars are being put where they're needed. 

Because no one should come home with a black eye for being nice...