Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects
Access Control
Open Access
Embargo Period
4-26-2021
Degree Program
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Degree Track
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP)
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
May
Keywords
workplace violence prevention, healthcare workers, violence prevention program
Advisor
Karen Kalmakis, PhD, MPH, FNP-BC, FAANP
DNP Project Chair
Karen Kalmakis, PhD, MPH, FNP-BC, FAANP
Abstract
Background: Violence in healthcare is a growing problem. Health care workers are being physically and psychologically assaulted by patients and their families. This is particularly a problem in emergency departments, psychiatric units, waiting rooms and geriatric facilities.
Purpose: This project focused on the creation of an educational toolkit for the prevention of violence against healthcare workers.
Methods: This quality improvement project used Kotter’s 8-step change model to guide the evaluation of a toolkit incorporating evidence-based nonviolent crisis prevention strategies with Crisis Prevention Institute’s top 10 de-escalation tips. The project was implemented at a psychiatric hospital in Illinois. Healthcare workers reviewed the educational material in the toolkit. Questionnaire were used to collect data using the Confidence in Coping with Patient Aggression Instrument pre- and post-education. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results: Eleven healthcare workers participated. The mean score from the questionnaire was higher post-education (Mean= 27.52, SD= 3.32) compared to pre-education (Mean=22.83, SD=4.31). Additionally, there was an estimated 9% decrease in violence post educational intervention.
Conclusion: An educational toolkit has shown some promising results in increasing self perceived confidence in coping with/managing patient aggression and reducing violence against healthcare workers.
Keywords: workplace violence, healthcare workers, violence prevention program
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.