EIGHTEEN(18) Employees of Arkansas Children's Hospital Reported Workplace Violence Incidents in a 2-Month Period!

RISKAlert?#1911? ????????????????????March 13, ??2024?? ????????????????Little Rock , Arkansas?? The violent events occurred between December and January.? Hospital President and CEO Marcy Doderer also told the local news outlet she received a personal threat from a former employee that was deemed credible by the| FBI and that warranted extra security at her home and office.

Doderer said the incidents “are events we would label as patient behavioral events, meaning aggressive, violent-type patients,” Arkansas Children’s President and CEO?Marcy Doderer?told a group gathered for the 2024 Children’s Forum: Influences on Children’s Health. And the state’s only pediatric hospital organization isn’t alone, Children’s hospitals across the country are also dealing with a rise in workplace violence. A recent survey of hundreds of nurses conducted by Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety of Ohio found that 82% of those surveyed had experienced at least one episode of workplace violence in the last year, Dr. Anne Lyren, clinical director for the organization, told the audience. In 2019, 69% of nurses reported experiencing workplace violence.

In 2023, the Arkansas General Assembly passed a law requiring hospitals and clinics to post signs saying that attacking a health care worker is a felony. Doderer said that Arkansas Children’s has added a psychological assessment for employees when they report an injury at the hands of a patient or a visitor. The assessment will determine if the employee is thriving, surviving, anxious or in a crisis.? “We’re starting to collect data so we can really assess the mental state of our team as they report to occupational health,” she said.

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