Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects
Access Control
Open Access
Degree Program
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Degree Track
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP)
Year Degree Awarded
2021
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/22674449
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
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.