Prescription for safety
Injuries to emergency department workers fall despite surge in violence
VIOLENT incidents against hospital staff in Gold Coast Health emergency departments have almost doubled in the past year but actual injuries to staff are down.
A change to the reporting of violent incidents in February last year to include threats as well as actual offences had impacted on the data, health officials said.
In 2016, there were 350 “code blacks” at Gold Coast University Hospital and Robina Hospital, resulting in 36 injuries and 824 work days lost.
In 2017, the number of code blacks jumped to 574, resulting in 30 injuries and 610 work days lost.
In the first three months of this year, 88 codes have been recorded, with three injuries.
Gold Coast Health’s executive director of people and engagement, Hannah Bloch, said several new strategies had been implemented to reduce the number of violent incidents.
“The hospital had employed a number of harm reduction strategies, to ensure staff feel safe while on the job,” she said.
“These include increased security with body-worn cameras and increased staff training.
“All staff are trained in how to verbally de-escalate situations, while body-worn cameras (on security guards) have been really effective to be able to see what’s going on.
“Not every code black is correlated as a physical threat or actual violence. It could be yelling on the phone, or any situation where a staff member feels threatened.
“It’s all about minimising risk.”
Associate Professor Dr David Green has been the head of emergency on the Gold Coast for more than 30 years.
He said the most common problem with aggressive patients involved alcohol-fuelled violence and ice-induced psychosis.
He said it would always be an issue.
“We deal with patients with mental health issues and a combination of elderly dementia patients, or patients on the spectrum … but far and away the biggest problem is alcohol or drug use,” he said.
“Everyone has been assaulted at some point in their career if they’ve been doing it for long enough.
“Staff need to feel safe at work as they are in an at-risk situation. It’s an increasing problem throughout most emergency departments.”
Clinical team co-ordinator Eri Suzuki is trained to respond to code blacks and has seen staff spat on, things thrown during violent outbursts, verbal threats and physical violence.
“I am trained to de-escalate and respond to situations,” she said.
“I have had occupational violence prevention training, which teaches you to communicate with people who are behaving in an aggressive or threatening manner.
“There are security guards stationed in ED that step in if things get physical, but I use eye contact and ask them their name and try to communicate with them to stop violence from happening.
“We practise role play scenarios as part of the training.”
ALL STAFF ARE TRAINED IN HOW TO VERBALLY DE-ESCALATE SITUATIONS … IT’S ALL BOUT MINIMISING RISK