Health care workers nationwide have witnessed a steady increase in workplace aggression and violence over the last decade that has become more prevalent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While employee safety has always been a priority, PPMC reinvigorated its commitment to proactively addressing workplace violence by instituting changes over the last year that have made it safer than ever to work here.
Workplace Violence Prevention Program
The team spearheading the most recent round of changes is an advanced task force led by Lisa Triantos, MSN, RN, CEN, NE-BC, clinical director, Emergency, Medical & Behavioral Health Nursing, and Gary Ginsberg, assistant hospital director, who recently joined as co-chair. Chief Nursing Officer James Ballinghoff, DNP, MBA, RN, and Chief Medical Officer Michael Posencheg, MD, serve as executive sponsors.
In just one year, the team has already taken significant steps to enhance security at PPMC.
“Every patient unit is now badge-only access,” explained Triantos. This security feature, previously established on many units, is now in place on all. Staff on patient units have the ability to close doors and limit access to only employees with badges that can unlock doors, or visitors they individually buzz in.
“Over 1,000 patient-facing staff members have been trained and equipped to notify the security team of any issues and quickly receive support,” Triantos said.
The task force standardized code-of-conduct materials to share with patients and visitors, to promote a clear understanding of the types of behavior expected in PPMC facilities. They launched a survey to study the feasibility of expanding a team-based, coded response to escalating situations, and they regularly conduct simulation drills to enhance preparedness for specific scenarios.
The task force and its subgroups have focused their work on three areas, based on the results of a survey of PPMC staff:
- Structural safety involves hospital facilities and covers the security of entrances, metal detection and weapon screening, visitation policies, and Security personnel.
- Employee preparedness looks at policies, procedures, and tools for responding to and reporting incidents, de-escalation training, practice drills, debriefing, and employee resources.
- External safety involves outdoor environments like lighting in walkways, parking security, and external analysis of entrances and exits. It also covers the safety of staff arriving to and leaving work, and outside resources such as Penn Police and shuttles.
The team is also finalizing a new employee website with additional information and resources on workplace safety and a dedicated email address for questions or concerns.
Workplace safety is being addressed on a system-wide level, too, with best practices shared across entities. Last fall, Pennsylvania Hospital installed a state-of-the-art Evolv Technology security system across five locations on its campus. The metal detectors improved safety without disrupting the flow of traffic at entrances and were widely considered a success.
PPMC recently introduced the Evolv system and the response from staff to patients to visitors has been overwhelmingly positive.
Triantos emphasized that the task force is “very cognizant of the impact of what we are doing on the patients and visitors and their experience here.”
“The bottom line is, we are trying to create an environment where everybody feels safe,” she said.