Workplace Violence Survey || Home Care and Community Based Services

Survey Introduction
Today, the health care community is experiencing workplace violence at alarming rates pushing efforts to provide a safe and secure place for patients, visitors and staff members. Attention is shifting from acute areas like the Emergency Department to a more global approach to prevention, response and recovery strategies.

The Florida Hospital Association, joined by the Florida College of Emergency Physicians, the Florida Emergency Nurses Association and the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Oversight has formed the Workplace Violence Task Force addressing workplace violence across Florida’s health care community. The purpose of the Task Force is to help make Florida’s health system safer for the community and employees by reducing the incidence of workplace violence through: defining workplace violence; advocating for controls to help reduce violent behavior; providing education about workplace violence recognition, prevention and response; and, by encouraging the reporting of violent behavior.

Workplace Violence Definition*
The Workplace Violence task Force has established the following definition as a measure.

Workplace Violence - Any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation involving an explicit or implicit challenge to personal safety, well being or health; and/or, other threatening, disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site or when commuting to and from work. Workplace violence can affect or involve employees, visitors, contractors and other stakeholders.

Categories of Workplace Violence

Physical assault includes attacks ranging from slapping and hitting to the use of weapons and resulting in any degree of injury, from no visible injury to fatal injury.
Threats communicated verbally or by letter, telephone, or e-mail includes the expression of intent to cause physical harm, which may be psychologically traumatic even if never carried out.
Harassment includes the creation of a hostile environment through unwelcome actions, physical contact, and/or words, such as insults and other comments intended to belittle a person, not intended to result in physical harm.

Types of Workplace Violence

Violent acts by criminals, who have no other connection with the workplace, but enter to commit robbery or another crime.
Violence directed at employees by customers, clients, patients, students, inmates, or any others for whom an organization provides services (most common type in healthcare).
Violence against coworkers, supervisors, or managers by a present or former employee.
Violence committed in the workplace by someone who does not work there, but has a personal relationship with an employee – an abusive spouse or domestic partner.

*Note: Adopted from existing definitions provided by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the ECRI Institute.

Instructions This simple and short survey helps the Task Force explore different healthcare environments. Your input is incredibly valuable. Please complete the survey in its entirety to the best of your knowledge. The questions below are targeted toward incidents of workplace violence involving on-duty personnel. Answers provided should reflect the timeframe of June 1, 2012 through May 30, 2013.

Please complete this survey no later than Friday, May 17, 2013.

You may make changes until you submit the survey. The survey does not need to be completed in one sitting but that is recommended.
We recommend you print your data submission using your browser command. SurveyMonkey does not provide a method for FHA to provide your data back to you.

For questions, please contact John Wilgis, Director of Emergency Management Services with the Florida Hospital Association at john@fha.org or 407-841-6230 ext. 226. Thank you

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* 1. What county(s) do you service?

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* 2. Please provide the number of employees by category:

Administrative

Clinical

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* 3. Does your organization have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, that is, a policy mandating that any and all violent incidents involving personnel are to be reported?

Yes

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* 4. How many incidents of workplace violence have been reported in your facility in the past 12 months? Please report based on who the incident was directed at.

Directed at staff, employees or clinical staff

Directed at patients

Directed at family members or caregivers

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* 5. Who appeared to initiate the incident?

Patient initiated

Caregiver initiated

Staff initiated

Family member initiated

Other

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* 6. Has your organization analyzed these acts to determine precipitating factors?

Yes

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* 7. If yes, what are the common causes? (Check all that apply)

Harm or hurt another person solely to cause that person pain

Taking/using/moving a patient's personal property or space

Inadequate response to previous incident or issue

Gratification of sexual needs

Psychiatric, psychological or mental diagnosis

Drug and/or alcohol abuse

Occupying personal space without purpose or permission

Misconception and/or perception of an action, behavior, or issue

Treatment delays

Medication administration - delays, withholding of requested medications

Pain management patient

Patient confusion/disorientation

Communication issues

Cultural or language barriers

Grieving families/visitors

Altercation between family members

Poor physical environment or working conditions

Personnel acting out for unknown reasons

Employee termination

Unknown or unidentified causes

Other (please specify)

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* 8. Please indicate the office locations where reports of workplace violence incidents occurred in your organization in the past 12 months. (Check all that apply)

	Physical Assault	Sexual Assault	Shot/Fired Upon	Verbal Assault/Abuse
Business Premises	Business Premises Physical Assault	Business Premises Sexual Assault	Business Premises Shot/Fired Upon	Business Premises Verbal Assault/Abuse
Parking Lot	Parking Lot Physical Assault	Parking Lot Sexual Assault	Parking Lot Shot/Fired Upon	Parking Lot Verbal Assault/Abuse

Other (please describe)

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* 9. Please indicate the patient's residence locations where reports of workplace violence incidents occurred in your organization in the past 12 months. (Check all that apply)

	Physical Assault	Sexual Assault	Shot/Fired Upon	Verbal Assault/Abuse
Home/Dwelling	Home/Dwelling Physical Assault	Home/Dwelling Sexual Assault	Home/Dwelling Shot/Fired Upon	Home/Dwelling Verbal Assault/Abuse
Outside of home	Outside of home Physical Assault	Outside of home Sexual Assault	Outside of home Shot/Fired Upon	Outside of home Verbal Assault/Abuse
Neighborhood, local area	Neighborhood, local area Physical Assault	Neighborhood, local area Sexual Assault	Neighborhood, local area Shot/Fired Upon	Neighborhood, local area Verbal Assault/Abuse
Traveling, in route to and from	Traveling, in route to and from Physical Assault	Traveling, in route to and from Sexual Assault	Traveling, in route to and from Shot/Fired Upon	Traveling, in route to and from Verbal Assault/Abuse

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* 10. If incidents occur in areas other than those listed above, please indicate the type of incident and locations where workplace violence was reported in your organization in the past 12 months.

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* 11. Does your facility have security officers (directly or by arrangement)?

Yes

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* 12. Can security be extended to a patient’s residence or the location where care is being delivered?

Yes

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* 13. If yes, how are they staffed?

24 hours a day, 7 days or a week

Business hours

Other (please specify)

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* 14. Please indicate the environmental control measures that you use in your organization. (Check all that apply)

Vehicles locked at all times

Electronic access control

Security cameras/video surveillance system

Well-lit/bright areas

Wireless panic button/silent alarm

Security signage

Mirrors

Mass notification system

Gated parking

Locked supply room

Marked security vehicles

Secured parking garage

Staff encouraged to use buddy system when appropriate

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* 15. Please indicate the security measures used for visitors to office or organization.

Visitor sign-in

Vendor sign0in

Limits on visitation times

Other (please specify)

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* 16. Does you organization provide educational programs that can help prevent or mitigate the incidence and severity of violence?

Yes

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* 17. What types of education do you provide? (Check all that apply)

Verbal diffusion techniques

Early identification of risk factors

Self-defense

Anger management

Stress management

Crisis prevention intervention

In-service classroom training (violence in the workplace training is a component of orientation/reorientation)

Workplace Violence Video assigned viewing for all employees

Other (please specify)

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* 18. Do you complete a detailed root cause analysis on any incident of violence that occurs in the work place setting?

Yes

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* 19. Please list below in detail how the findings of the root cause analysis are shared with others in your organization.

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