An educational program to prevent, manage, and recover from workplace violence

There exists a gap in the preparation of emergency department (ED) employees to prevent, manage, and recover from workplace violence (WPV). Thus, the purpose of this article is to evaluate learning outcomes following a 4-unit WPV educational program. A quasi-experimental study was used to evaluate learning outcomes with 315 employees from 3 EDs. Units 1-3 were web-based and included a pretest-posttest. Unit 4 was classroom-based and allowed employees to apply the knowledge learned during the web-based program. A paired samples t tests reflected a significant increase in knowledge attainment (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in knowledge attainment between employees who completed the web-based learning only and employees who completed the hybrid web-based/classroom-based education (p = 0.136). A well-developed WPV educational program can achieve significant learning outcomes in ED employees. Web-based learning may be an effective alternative yielding learning outcomes equal to that of a hybrid educational program.