Educational material
In developing the evidenced based project to improve/increase formal workplace violence reporting utilizing the current “RL Solutions” software, there are several aspects of implementation that will affect the impact of the delivery and success of the plan. The first aspect to consider is the financial impact that the project will have on the organization. The plan entails a unit-based educational piece detailing: What constitutes workplace violence? and how to navigate RL solutions to document violent events, Education will also include the importance and impact of formal documentation, as well as what support processes to anticipate as follow-up to incident reporting. Educational material will be nominal, including a three-fold poster board and small fliers in strategic high nursing traffic areas. It will involve several in-services 10-15 minutes in length, provided by project leader to reach all staff. The larger impact to violence in the workplace is astounding. A 2017 report prepared for the American Hospital Association estimated that workplace violence costs U.S. hospital and health systems $2.7 billion in 2016, including $280 million related to preparedness and prevention, $852 million in unreimbursed medical care for victims, $1.1 billion in security and training costs and an additional $429 million in medical care, staffing, indemnity and other costs related to violence against hospital employees. (ashclinicalnews.org)Other costly aspects associated with WPV are lost wages, legal expenses, workman’s comp claims, diminished public image and employee turn-over expenses. The U.S.Department of Labor, estimates the cost to replace an employee due to workplace violence is approximately two-thirds to twice the annual salary of the employee being replaced.( www.osha.gov)Clinically, the impact of workplace violence leads healthcare workers to commit a greater number of medical errors which correlates with poorer patient outcomes. Also. Healthcare workers who must must take time off work to manage physical or psychological impact of violence put a strain on staffing availability. “Healthcare workers who were victims of violence experienced an average of 112.8 hours her year of sick, disability” (ashclinicalnew.org) which is a little more than twice that of those who did not experience workplace violence. Poor Staffing ratios due to lost staffing availability also stand to impact patient outcomes. The aspect of quality of care is also affected by episodes of workplace violence. A study published in 2001 by Judith Arnetz and Bengt Arnetz, “suggest that the violence experienced by healthcare staff is associated with lower patient ratings of the quality of care.”Additionally, workplace violent incidents contribute to decreased job interest, productivity and confidence, which directly impact the delivery of quality service to the patient. The RL solutions system is already in place, therefor there is no added cost required to design a program from the ground up. The project simply intends to increase the utilization of the current reporting system. Increased reporting will allow the organization to collect and analyze data that can assist the employer with developing prevention and intervention strategies to ultimately reduce workplace violence against workers and the physical and psychological impact victims suffer. It will also help to reduce the deleterious financial consequences associated workplace violence. Arnetz, J.,& Arnetz, B., (Feb. 2001). Violence Toward Healthcare Staff and Possible effects on the Quality of Patient Care. Social Science and Medicare. Vol.52 Issue 3Beck, D., (Dec. 2018). Hazardous to Your Health: Violence in the Health-Care Workplace. ASH Clinical News. Retreived on Nov. 18, 2019, from https://www.ashclinicalnews.org/features/hazardous-health-violence-health-care-workplace/Hartley, D., Ridenour, M., Craine, J., & Morrill, A. (2015). Workplace violence prevention for nurses on-line course: Program development. Work (Reading, Mass.), 51(1), 79–89. doi:10.3233/WOR-141891Nowrouzi-Kia, B., (2017). The Impact of Workplace Violence on Health Care Workers’ Quality of Life. Developmental Medicine & amp; child Neurology. Vol. 59. Issue 7
