An article in Sunday’s edition of The Republic was eye-opening, but unfortunately all too familiar for people who work in healthcare professions.
“Healthcare workers accounted for 73% of all nonfatal workplace violence injuries in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,” The Republic’s Andy East wrote.
“The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has characterized workplace violence as ‘a recognized hazard in the healthcare industry,’ and several medical groups have sounded the alarm in recent years, particularly as incidents intensified during the pandemic.”
Those trends seen by people who work at Columbus Regional Health, which has taken several steps in recent years to protect workers and the public when a violent incident occurs.
As East’s thorough reporting informed readers, the number of violent incidents reported at CRH has gone up significantly in recent years, but there is more to the story than simply a greater incidence of violence. He wrote that some CRH officials acknowledged that a “culture of silence” in the healthcare professions in the past led some providers to choose not to report every episode, so the numbers a few years back didn’t as accurately reflect instances of violence that may have occurred.
CRH officials are correct when they say that the 100 incidents of violence reported on the job during the first seven months of the year are isolated cases, and that the hospital is a safe place. After all, at this pace, the number represents about one report every two days across all departments.
Nevertheless, it is concerning, particularly as some cases have involved staff injuries. Fifteen of the 100 cases this year were forwarded to authorities for possible criminal charges.
Perhaps it should not be as surprising as it is, the extent to which those who heal and care for the sick and injured put themselves in harm’s way by doing so. They are sometimes tending to people who are in crisis or whose mental health issues may have gone untreated for a prolonged period of time. Or they may simply be treating people who, for any number of reasons, lash out in violence.
“We’ve seen these numbers going up dramatically for several years now, but what is more alarming at this point is we’re also seeing the level of violence increase,” CRH Police Chief Tony Pope told East. “So, it’s not just the numbers that we’re seeing. It’s that the level of violence has started to become more violent.”
To help address these concerns, CRH over the years has formed its own in-house police force, started a new reporting system, and educated and trained staff on how to recognize when situations are escalating and safely de-escalate them or physically restrain individuals if things turn violent, East wrote.
And professionals in higher-risk areas of the hospital have personal duress buttons they can push when the need arises to summon a CRH police officer.
Our community is fortunate to have top-flight health care professionals at our service. We thank the doctors, nurses and employees at CRH for all they do in a sometimes difficult environment, and we commend CRH for doing all it can to keep its employees safe.
