When it comes to occurrences of violence in the home health place, there is a great disconnection between the number of incidents and the number of incidents reported.
That is one of the key conclusions of a recently published study in Home Healthcare Now. The researchers found that 57% of health workers have experienced physical violence while working in their current agency, and that a culture change is needed to increase reports.
As part of the study, researchers from the University of Cincinnati used a transverse survey. Home health workers used by seven health agencies based in Ohio and Oregon complete questions about their knowledge about organizations’ policies, violence procedures in the workplace, as well as their research experiences.
The participating agencies included two small agencies that consist or 25 to 100 employees, and five medium agencies with 100 to 500 employees.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) describes violence in the workplace as “any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs in the workplace.” In general terms, this can mean anything, from verbal threats and abuse to physical or sexual aggression.
The study found that 37% of home health workers experienced cases of verbal or emotional violence daily. In addition, 20% of workers experienced monthly occurrences of physical violence.
About 57% of workers reported that they are experimental physical violence at least once as an employee in their current agency.
In what the study authors described as one of their “alarm” findings, each worker said they have experienced exposure to violence in the workplace. However, these incidents of violence in the workplace were not informed to the management of the agency, chrowing to the study.
Although violence in the workplace occurs in other medical care environments, working at home presents different challenges.
“Home medical care is a medical care specialty that presents unique occupational risks, including the potential for [workplace violence] Within the patient’s home or community, “the authors wrote in the study.” People who work in home medical care often do so independently and may not have the same resources provided for those in the traditional hospital or in the clinical environment. ”
Although agencies have violence policies in the established workplace, and 100% of the workers surveyed said they were well informed or in report procedures, this has not translated into more reports.
In fact, 40% of the workers declared that management did not encourage reports, and 33% do not feel comfortable going to management with their conerns of violence in the workplace.
“A possible explanation is that management has instituted policies and reporting guidelines to meet corporate requirements without [home health care worker] Buy-in, “the authors wrote. [workplace violence]. There must be a cultural change in organizations to encourage [home health care workers] inform [workplace violence]. ”
Another research has also found that violence in the workplace is common in the home care industry. Last year, a study by the Transcend strategy group found that about 50% of caregivers have experienced or witnessed at least one incident of violence or harassment in the workplace at some point.
In recent years, Osha has tasks in a more attentive eye regarding home care space.
“For years, home attention flew under the radar,” said Private Practice Lawyer Elizabeth E. Hogue, Home Health Care News. “No one paid a lot of attention to suppliers, but now home attention is a kind of care of the day. People, at least, provide lips service to the idea that it is important, and we need more, and needs more funds.
