1. thepumphandle
  2. Violence Against Healthcare Workers in Nursing Homes and Psychiatric Hospitals

Violence Against Healthcare Workers in Nursing Homes and Psychiatric Hospitals

By lborkowski on November 5, 2010.

Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health analyzed data on nursing-home employees from the 2004 National Nursing Assistant Survey and learned the following about on-the-job violence:

Thirty-four percent of nursing assistants surveyed reported experiencing physical injuries from residents' aggression in the previous year. Mandatory overtime (odds ratio [OR] = 1.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.22, 2.24) and not having enough time to assist residents with their activities of daily living (OR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.25, 1.78) were strongly associated with experiencing injuries from assaults. Nursing assistants employed in nursing homes with Alzheimer care units were more likely to experience such injuries, including being bitten by residents.

Violence against healthcare workers is alarmingly common (see this past post about violence in the ER), and nurses and other personal care workers are most affected. A 2008 New York Times article, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, reported that nursing homes and psychiatric units are the most dangerous settings for healthcare workers.

A recent tragedy highlights the risk for psychiatric-unit workers. Last month, Donna Gross, 54, a psychiatric technician at the Napa State Hospital in California, was strangled to death, and a patient from the hospital is being held on suspicion of murder.

Tags
Occupational Health & Safety
healthcare workers
nursing homes
psychiatric hospitals
violence

More like this

California poised to adopt violence prevention standard for health care workers: ‘Violence shouldn’t be part of the job’
In 2010, Donna Gross, a psychiatric technician at Napa State Hospital for more than a decade, was strangled to death at work by a mentally ill patient. While on-the-job violence in the health care sector was certainly nothing new at the time, the shocking and preventable circumstances surrounding…
Occupational Health News Roundup
In the New York Times, David Tuller describes the on-the-job violence nurses face, and efforts to make their workplaces safer:  Three years ago, an enraged patient â 6 feet 4 inches and 275 pounds â smacked another patient, bit a health aide, threatened to kill [psychiatric nurse Karen] Coughlin…
Vicious attacks: 80,000 US healthcare workers assaulted in a year
Nurses and other healthcare workers joined Members of Congress yesterday at a news conference to discuss violence on the job in the healthcare industry. Ms. Helene Andrews, RN recalled being assaulted by a 25 year old psychiatric patient at Danbury Hospital. She was handing him mediation and a…
Occupational Health News Roundup
Last year, psychiatric technician Donna Gross was killed on the job at Napa State Hospital, allegedly by a patient who had a pass that gave him unsupervised access to the grounds. In a two-part series, NPR's Ina Jaffe talks with staff, directors, and patients from two psychiatric hospitals, Napa…