Staff Safety Alert Banner Program Against Workplace Violence at an Urban American Hospital

Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare has become an issue worldwide, with increasing prevalence after the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, WPV in any setting has individual and systemic repercussions. However, despite extensive literature reporting the prevalence of WPV in healthcare worldwide, effective, standardized prevention policies have not been established. We developed and piloted a WPV initiative at an urban hospital in the state of Maryland. Here, we aim to describe our program development methods and implementation.

The 6-month program utilized a reporting tool developed within patients' electronic medical records (EMRs) to request the display of a Staff Safety Alert (SSA) banner to alert healthcare professionals of patients who engaged in violent behavior and are at increased risk of subsequent behavior. This tool was piloted on 21 patient care units. A review committee either approved or denied case requests filed by frontline workers, with holistic consideration involving patient status, potential biases, and communication flaws.

Twenty-one banner requests were filed during the course of the pilot. Of which, eight were approved, and 13 were denied. The multi-trauma intermediate care floor filed the most case requests for a safety banner.

Our pilot program offers a patient-centered intervention program where extensive personnel training and patient-focused considerations were applied prior to the approval or denial of a banner display. The SSA program was the initial step in institutionally combatting WPV in healthcare as staff are encouraged to officially document unsafe events followed by careful action in response.