By Julianna Paradisi, RN
By allyaubry/via Flickr
Once upon a time, I was the assured quality (AQ) representative for a nursing unit. I attended monthly AQ committee meetings with members from medicine, pharmacy, laboratory, and respiratory therapy to review incident reports. We developed processes for improving patient safety and work flow. Agenda items changed monthly, except for the paper towel dispenser problem.
The unit had a paper towel dispenser, which operated by a lever. It was noisy, disturbing the patients. It did not hold enough paper towels for 24 hours. Since housekeeping did not staff to fill paper towel holders on night shift, physicians and nurses entering the room found them empty after washing their hands in the morning. This angered everyone, so it went on the AQ committee’s agenda.
The unit needed new towel dispensers. However, the committee could not determine whose job it was to research replacements. No one knew which department was responsible for ordering new dispensers, or whose budget would pay for them. Since there were other agenda items to discuss, every month the towel dispenser problem was “parked” for the next meeting. This continued for the entire time I served on AQ. The problem remained unresolved when I moved on.
Workplace violence toward nurses feels like the “irresolvable dilemma” of the paper towel dispenser. Over the years, statistics have consistently shown that social workers and health care workers, particularly nurses, are several times more likely to experience workplace assault than other types of workers. At the same time, it’s often been reported that nurses are afraid to report workplace violence because of lack of institutional support.
Whose problem is it? The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has guidelines for preventing such violence, and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice makes recommendations as well, but neither makes concrete a requirement that employers take action.
So whose job is it to protect nurses from workplace assault? Read the rest of this entry ?
