Tragedy strikes home care community
Tragedy strikes home care community
When 60-year-old home care nurse Edna Lorraine Hooks was killed during a patient visit in August, the issue of worker safety was thrust into the spotlight.
There is little guidance available for home care agencies regarding nurse and aide safety. Without the ability to truly modify their nurses’ work environment, the best approach is often to watch carefully and report patient behavior and trends.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) June 1996 bulletin Violence in the Workplace notes that the the first priority in developing a workplace violence prevention policy is to establish a system for documenting violent incidents in the workplace.
For those not afforded the luxury of an office setting, that’s often the best measure a home care agency can take for its staff.
"All agencies can do is assess the client as far as being appropriate for home care on the front end, and on an ongoing basis assess the client as far as psychological and violence issues," says Dan Lerman, MHSA president, Center for Hospital Home Care Management, Memphis, TN. "Otherwise, I really don’t think there’s a lot you can do. Once you have decided that the patient is appropriate, it opens you up to some of these unfortunate, tragic issues."
Some agencies use security for staff, provided by firms such as Home Health Care Escort Services, which serves 34 home care agencies in the Washington, DC, area.
Escorts are one option
There are three reasons home care agencies rely on us, says Michael Grove, founder and owner of the service. Crime has increased dramatically, the number of home care visits has increased dramatically, and the police cannot be everywhere for everyone.
Grove notes that the trend is likely to continue as the popularity of home care increases.
"The numbers [regarding violence among home care workers] have risen only because the amount of visits [in total nationwide] being made has risen," he says.
OSHA and Cal/OSHA list several steps home care agencies can take in addition to providing escorts to help ensure the safety of workers. These recommendations include:
• use of cellular or car phones to enable employees to stay in contact with the office;
• use of hand-held alarm or noise devices;
• use of beepers or alarm systems that alert the office of problems;
• discouraging staff from wearing jewelry to help prevent possible strangulation;
• use of protective devices such as pepper spray;
• keep automobiles well maintained and always locked.
Both organizations also note the importance of reporting all incidents and the implementation of detailed processes training nurses and monitoring trends regarding geographic areas or individual patients.
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