Care Home Safe holding: Judge concerned with violent dementia patients
The Globe and Mail is reporting about a judge who has asked for mandatory secure units in care homes which look after people with dementia who present with violent behaviour. Speaking in Canada, the judge said that the number of people who suffer from dementia-related cognitive impairment is rising sharply and that there must be a corresponding increase […]
Hospital Violence Reduction – Violent Drug-Seekers
“the word on the street is that Emergency Departments keep a lot of drugs. Drug seekers know this. They also know that it is easy to walk into an open-access Emergency Department and demand drugs, even if it takes the use of violence to get what they want.” Violence in the Emergency Department, Patricia B. […]
Security guards restrained hospital patients 5,722 times
The Daily Mail is reporting that Security guards are being called in to restrain dementia patients in hospitals up to three times a week. The Mail used Freedom of Information requests to ask all 160 NHS hospital trusts in England how many times security were called to restrain patients in 2012/13 and 2013/14. Of the 42 […]
Hospital Violence Reduction – Internal Security Officers
Staff in one hospital we worked in reported to us that they had variable success in securing assistance from Security Guards when incidents become critical. We ourselves experienced communication difficulties (mainly a language barrier) with Security Guards several times during our visit which may contribute to this apparent lack of cooperation or coordination. Certainly in other […]
Hospital Violence Reduction – Physical Attributes of Staff
A casual walk through an ER will confirm that the physical attributes of the nurses working there (both male and female) are often not matching the physical youth, athleticism, raw power and determination of the patients they are looking after who might be in crisis. Although this is a sweeping generalisation, it nevertheless informs us that, in order […]
Restraint Training: Soft Cuff as the Least Restrictive Option
The Alternative option: Soft-Cuffs (Emergency Response Cuff – ERC) An innovative and very significant restraint device is now available to hospitals and care services in the UK and we believe that it deserves a serious and comprehensive exploration. The equipment is formally known as the Emergency Response Cuff (ERC) and is sometimes referred to as the “Soft-Cuff” due its tough-cloth […]
Hospital Violence Reduction – Legislative Landscape
There is a trend in many countries to bring into play specific legislation which seeks to protect public services workers from crimes of violence and aggression committed against them. Often this legislation places higher sentencing tariffs for crimes of assault against emergency services workers. While undoubtedly a control measure which primarily seeks to deter […]
Hospital Violence Reduction – Organisational Commitment
Leadership Commitment to the Hospital Violence Reduction Project Sometimes in the hospitals we visit, nursing staff do not feel that they have the full support of the organisation in managing incidents of violence or aggression in their work, even though there is an active Hospital Violence Reduction Project in play. This situation is underlined by situations seen on a […]
Impact Factors in Hospital Violence Reduction
Impact Factors in Hospital Violence The following causal factors are based on the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) analysis of risk factors for violence in hospital services. Use of hospitals by police and criminal justice agencies for criminal holds and the care of acutely disturbed persons Acute and Chronic mental health patients The […]
Hospital Violence Reduction – Environment and Physical Design
According to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), one element of performance by which a hospital’s environment of care is measured is that “the hospital controls access to and egress from security-sensitive areas, as determined by the hospital. Ambulatory and Ambulance entrances should be separate, with electronically operated locks, and glass should […]