Workplace Violence Prevention: Flagging Practices and Challenges in Hospitals

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Patient flagging systems are used to communicate violence risk to healthcare workers.
• Research on hospital approaches and challenges with flagging violent patients is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe hospitals' approaches to flagging patients with a history of violent behavior.
• To identify challenges encountered during the implementation of patient flagging policies.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative case study of hospitals in Ontario, Canada.
• Interviews and focus groups with frontline clinical staff, allied health workers, and managers.
• Document analysis of hospital flagging policies.

Main Results:

• Four of five participating hospitals had a flagging policy.
• Key challenges identified include patient stigmatization, patient privacy concerns, and policy/procedure gaps.
• 58 frontline clinical workers, 31 allied health workers, and 42 managers participated.

Conclusions:

• Effective flagging requires addressing patient stigmatization and privacy concerns.
• Education on flagging's purpose, OHS, and privacy regulations is essential.
• Involving frontline workers in policy development and implementation is recommended.