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Showing results for tags 'Staff safety'.
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Content ArticleHospital staff members experience 1.17 aggressive events — verbal and/or physical — for every 40 hours worked, with more aggression events occurring when staff have significantly greater numbers of patients assigned to them this study from DeSanto Iennaco et al. found. The study, published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, examined incidence of patient and visitor aggressive events toward staff at five inpatient medical units in community hospitals and academic hospitals in the Northeastern U.S. The data was collected using even counters, aggressive incident and management logs and demographic forms over a 14-day period in early 2017.
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Content ArticleThis report describes the findings of a study that collected stories of the working lives of Black and Brown healthcare staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study asked them to reflect on their experiences and highlight the changes they would like to see. It highlights a number of issues around victimisation, access to PPE, speaking up and risk assessments. The authors argue that the report confirms previous studies that identify the entrenched nature of racism in healthcare systems and highlights how systemic cultures of racism contributed to the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on health and care workers from minority ethnic backgrounds.
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Content ArticleThe epidemic of workplace violence has prompted the use of harsh responses that include “behaviour contracts” (sometimes called “behavioural agreements”) by US healthcare organisations. The authors of this JAMA article look at how this approach can undermine a hospital’s commitment to providing evidence-based, patient-centred care and highlight other approaches to dealing with patient aggression and violence in healthcare settings.
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News Article
Hospital takes tough stance against patient violence
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Death threats, physical abuse and racist slurs aimed at NHS workers has prompted one hospital to make it easier for staff to “red card” violent and abusive patients. Aggressive patients or visitors could be banned from Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust for up to 12 months. The trust has also started using a series of body cameras in a bid to curb violence and aggression towards health workers after cases at the East London/Essex trust have doubled in the last three years. Trust workers have been punched, subject to racist slurs – including being told to “go back to the jungle” – and had their teeth broken by violent patients. As a result, hospital bosses have launched a new campaign – ‘No Abuse, No Excuse’ – to reduce violence and aggression towards staff, which includes: The introduction of 60 body cameras for staff in areas such as A&E and frailty units. Easier policies to ban patients or visitors, with bans which can last for up to a year. An increased visibility of security staff. A “de-escalation” training course for trust employees. Read full story Source: Medscape, 26 February 2024 -
Content ArticleSafety leader Helen Macfie describes why she appreciates that Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety includes workforce safety as one of its foundational areas.
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News Article“I’ve seen patients take swings at doctors because they’re not happy with the time it’s taken or the doctor’s diagnosis. I’ve seen fire extinguishers set off and thrown at people, computers lifted and thrown across the emergency department and people run out of cubicles and punch other patients – people they don’t know – for no reason.” Roger Webb, a security supervisor at the Queen’s Medical Centre hospital in Nottingham, is recalling some of the more unsavoury incidents he has witnessed in the course of his work. “I’ve been struck in the groin, had scratches all over my arms where people have dug their nails in. I’ve been bitten and I’ve been spat at while trying to deal with situations. The spitting is the most depressing of those, though, because it’s so contemptuous and so horrible. And legally it’s assault.” Like staff across the NHS, those at the QMC have seen a rise in abusive, threatening and intimidatory behaviour by patients and their relatives in recent years. In 2021-22, Nottingham University hospitals (NUH), the NHS trust that runs the QMC and its sister City hospital, recorded 1,237 incidents of aggression, violence and harassment. But it had many more – 1,806 – during the following year, 2022-23. Last year brought another increase. In the six months between April to September alone, NUH recorded another 1,167 incidents, leaving 2023-24 likely to be the worst ever on record. Staff have been hit, spat at, threatened, verbally abused and racially abused during this roll call of unpleasant incidents. Racially aggravated harassment has increased notably. Some of the incidents have led to perpetrators being charged and convicted. Worryingly, in a growing number of cases, the patient has been responsible for several incidents while receiving one single episode of care. Care delays are the main trigger for abuse at the QMC. But such incidents also arise when staff are treating drunks, rival gangs, people who are high on drugs and those with mental health problems. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 February 2024
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Content ArticleThere is currently a lack of research addressing the impact of patient suicide on GPs. This qualitative study in BMJ Open aimed to examine the personal and professional impact of patient suicide, as well as the availability of support and why GPs did or did not use it. The authors found that GPs are impacted both personally and professionally when they lose a patient to suicide, but may not access formal help due to commonly held idealised notions of a ‘good’ GP who is regarded as being unshakable. Fear of professional repercussions also plays a major role in deterring help-seeking. A systemic culture shift which allows GPs to seek support when their physical or mental health requires it is needed, and this may help prevent stress, burnout and early retirement.
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Content ArticleThis descriptive and cross-sectional study in the Journal of Patient Safety aimed to examine the impact of nurses’ fear of Covid-19 on their nursing care behaviour during the pandemic. 450 nurses providing one-on-one care to Covid-19 patients between January and March 2021 took part in the study. The results showed that nurses providing care to patients during the pandemic feared Covid-19, that their care behaviours were generally at a good level, and that the care behaviours of nurses with a high degree of fear were negatively and significantly impacted.
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Content ArticleThis report aims to understand the NHS response to racism, what trusts and healthcare organisations do about it and how effective they are at addressing it. It brings together key learning from a number of significant tribunal cases and responses from 1,327 people to a survey about their experiences of raising allegations of racism within their organisations.
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Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Kevin talks to us about the role research plays in improving staff and patient safety. He explains how his own research has uncovered the extent of violence experienced by student nurses and the underreporting of sharps injuries among healthcare students. He also highlights how research can help universities improve awareness of issues facing students across all healthcare courses and provide more effective support. -
Content ArticleHealthcare students are at high risk of sharps injuries, which can negatively impact their confidence and wellbeing. This study audited three clinical skills simulation wards at a UK university to determine the incidence of sharps injuries in this educational setting. The authors found that sharps injuries were the most common type of incident in clinical skills simulation wards, with student nurses being at highest risk. They suggest that intervention is needed to improve safety in this educational setting, including sharps handling training, with greater focus on existing regulations.
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Content ArticleStudies have reported evidence on sharps injuries among nursing, medical and dental students but little is known about the amount, type and causes of sharps injuries affecting other healthcare students. This narrative review aimed to identify the extent, type and causes of sharps injuries sustained by healthcare students, especially those not in nursing, medicine or dentistry. The review highlights that some groups of healthcare students, including those studying pharmacy, physiotherapy and radiography, sustain sharps injuries from similar devices as reported in research on such injuries in nursing, medical and nursing students. Sharps injuries happen in a range of healthcare environments, and many were not reported by students. The main cause of a sharps injury identified was a lack of knowledge.
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Content Article
Psychological safety newsletter
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Suggest a useful website
Each week this newsletter contains new, useful, insightful or controversial content all about psychological safety research, applications, practice and opportunities to collaborate. -
News Article
Waiting times focus ‘overshadows misconduct’, finds NHSE review
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Ambulance trusts have often prioritised capacity and response times over dealing with cases of misconduct, a review of culture in the sector for NHS England has found. The review says ambulance trusts need to “establish clear standards and procedures to address misconduct”. The work was carried out by Siobhan Melia, who is Sussex Community Healthcare Trust CEO, and was seconded to be South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust interim chief from summer 2022 to spring last year. Her report says bullying and harassment – including sexual harassment – are “deeply rooted” in ambulance trusts, and made worse by organisational and psychological barriers, with inconsistencies in holding offenders to account and a failure to tackle repeat offenders. She says “cultural assessments” of three trusts by NHSE had found “competing pressures often lead to poor behaviours, with capacity prioritisation overshadowing misconduct management”, adding: “Staff shortages and limited opportunities for development mean that any work beyond direct clinical care is seen as a luxury or is rushed. “Despite this, there is a clear link between positive organisational culture and improved patient outcomes. However, trusts often focus on meeting response time standards for urgent calls, whilst sidelining training, professional development, and research.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 February 2024 -
Content ArticleA forthcoming three-part ITV drama Breathtaking, set in a fictionalised London hospital, tells the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic through the eyes of Acute Medical Consultant Dr Abbey Henderson. The series is based on Dr Rachel Clarke’s book of the same name. She worked on Covid wards and is also one of the writers on the series. Rachel joins Women's Health host Emma Barnett to discuss it. Listen from 1:40
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Content ArticleHow does it feel to confront a pandemic from the inside, one patient at a time? To bridge the gulf between a perilously unwell patient in quarantine and their distraught family outside? To be uncertain whether the protective equipment you wear fits the science or the size of the government stockpile? To strive your utmost to maintain your humanity even while barricaded behind visors and masks? Rachel is a palliative care doctor who looked after some of the most gravely unwell patients on the Covid-19 wards of her hospital. Amid the tensions, fatigue and rising death toll, she witnessed the courage of patients and NHS staff alike in conditions of unprecedented adversity. For all the bleakness and fear, she found that moments that could stop you in your tracks abounded. People who rose to their best, upon facing the worst, as a microbe laid waste to the population.
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Content Article
In December 2022, a newly formed group called 'Long Covid Doctors for Action' (LCD4A) conducted a survey to establish the impact of Long Covid on doctors. When the British Medical Association published the results of the survey, the findings were both astonishing and saddening in equal measure.[1] The LCD4A have now decided that enough is enough and that it is now time to stand up and take positive action. They have initiated a group litigation against those who failed to exercise the ‘duty of care’ that they owed to healthcare workers across the UK during the pandemic. In this blog, I summarise how and why I feel our healthcare workers have been let down by our government and why, if you are one of these healthcare workers whose life has been effected by Long Covid, I urge you to join the group litigation initiative. -
Content ArticleThis study aimed to explore the experience and psychological impact on nursing students of sustaining a sharps injury. A qualitative approach was taken, using two methods to gather data, namely a Twitter chat and interviews. Some nursing students reported psychological impacts after sustaining the sharps injury, which affected both their professional and personal life. The qualitative findings were synthesised into eight themes.
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Content ArticleConcerns have been voiced about the possibility of health risks to operating room staff from exposure to surgical smoke generated from electrocautery. This study reviewed available literature to try and assess this risk. The authors concluded that: Regulations on Surgical Smoke that supersede the best judgement of the surgeon are not warranted. The extent of particulate pollution from surgical smoke has been overstated and drawing parallels between exposure to surgical smoke and cigarette smoking is not justified. Numerous studies consistently report negligible levels of pollutants associated with surgical smoke within the operating room's breathable air. While transmission of HPV through surgical smoke is a theoretical concern, conclusive evidence supporting the claim is yet to be established.
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News Article
‘Failure to act with candour’ over unsafe gas, report finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
There was an “unacceptable delay” and “failure to act with candour” in how a trust responded to a serious risk from staff nitrous oxide exposure, an independent investigation has found. Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust found levels of nitrous oxide far above the workplace exposure limit at Basildon Hospital’s maternity unit during routine testing in 2021. However, staff were only notified and a serious incident declared more than a year later. The exposure related to a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, commonly known as gas and air, used during births. While short-term exposure is considered safe, prolonged exposure to nitrous oxide could lead to potential health issues. Chief executive Matthew Hopkins has apologised, after a report by the Good Governance Institute said: “The inquiry found that there was an unacceptable delay in responding to and mitigating a serious risk that had been reported… As a result of this failure to act on a known risk, midwives and staff members on the maternity unit were exposed to unnecessary risk or potential harm from July 6 2021 to October 2022." Read full story (paywalled) HSJ, 14 February 2024 -
Content Article
Doctors in Distress website
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Suggest a useful website
Doctors in Distress is a UK-based independent charity that promotes and protects the mental health of all healthcare workers and prevents suicides in the medical profession. It was set up in 2018 by Amandip Sidhu following the suicide of his brother Jagdip, a consultant cardiologist, with the aim of providing support for healthcare staff facing burnout and mental health difficulties. The charity runs free online support groups and webinars for healthcare professionals and students. Previous webinars can be viewed on the Doctors in Distress YouTube channel. -
News ArticleThe first time she was groped at work, Freya says she was 24 years old, a newly qualified paramedic, and was cleaning out the cupboards of the ambulance station crew room. "He came behind me without me realising. I was cleaning away, and he put his hands around my body and grabbed my breasts," said Freya, which is not her real name. "Then he said, 'Well, I won't bother doing that again'. "People just laughed, some didn't even look up from the TV. Like it was nothing, completely normal." Her story mirrors that of other current and former paramedics who, in several interviews with Sky News, painted a picture of widespread sexual harassment and a toxic culture of misogyny. The head of the College of Paramedics, Tracy Nicholls, said: "Problems exist in every [NHS] trust, across all four countries in the United Kingdom." NHS England told Sky News that any form of sexual misconduct was "completely unacceptable" and every trust had committed to an action plan to improve sexual safety. Laura - not her real name - is currently a paramedic for a different ambulance service. She describes sexual harassment as "incessant" in the profession. She says students and new recruits are routinely referred to as "fresh meat", subjected to sexual comments, questions and jokes - even in front of patients - and are continually sexualised by some male colleagues. "It's exhausting," she said. "You come to work wanting to help your patients but every day you're dealing with inappropriate behaviour and sexual comments." Read full story Source: Sky News, 8 February 2024
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Content ArticleThe Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 'Let's remove it' hub is a platform to tackle bullying and undermining across the surgical workforce.
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News ArticleA nurse whistleblower has described her eight years of hell as she fights the NHS over its failure to properly investigate claims she was sexually harassed by a colleague. Michelle Russell, who has 30 years of experience, first raised allegations of sexual harassment by a male nurse to managers at the mental health unit where she worked in London in 2015. Years of battling her case saw the trust’s initial investigation condemned as “catastrophically flawed” while the nursing watchdog, the Nursing Midwifery Council, has apologised for taking so long to review her complaint and has referred itself to its own regulator over the matter. With the case still unresolved, Ms Russell will see her career in the NHS end this week after she was not offered any further contract work. Speaking to The Independent she said: “If I’m going to lose my job, I want other nurses to know that this is what happens when you raise a concern. I want the public to know this is what happens to us in the NHS when we are trying to protect the public. “I have an unblemished career. They’re crying out for nurses. I’ve dedicated my life to the NHS. I haven’t done anything wrong.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 6 February 2024
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Louise Roe, an investigator at the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) programme, looks at how the questions you ask as a patient safety investigator can affect the quality of the information you receive from staff, as well as having an impact on how they feel about the interview. Louise lays out her journey to obtain higher-quality information from interviews while protecting staff involved in patient safety incidents. She discusses how to ask questions that uncover the 'whys' around decision making at the time of an incident.
