Other Titles
Rising Star Poster/Presentation - Rapid Presentation Round
Abstract
Significance – Healthcare workers are five times more likely to experience workplace violence than other industries, and 73% all non-fatal workplace violence injuries resulting in missed days of work occur in healthcare settings (OSHA, 2021). WPV costs facilities an estimated $428.5 million nationwide (Van Des Bos et al., 2017). WPV is attributed to burnout, decreased employee morale, increased absenteeism, and increased staff turnover, negatively impacting patient care (Somani et al., 2021).
Background: The organization is a Level 1 Trauma hospital with 573 beds. The Workplace Violence Committee formed in 2018 in response to growing workplace violence incidents. The committee adopted a workplace definition, identified opportunities with data collection, and identified a lack of process for staff follow-up and support (Wyatt et al., 2016). Once the employee enters the data, the information is validated for accuracy. Power BI is utilized for real-time data visualization and to identify trends in data.
Methods: The WPV workgroup was formed to focus on implementing strategic interventions. The Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT) started as a pilot program in 2019, utilizing existing psychiatric nurses to respond to areas outside of behavioral health; dedicated staff were added in 2021 (Yost et al., 2021; Zicko et al., 2017). In 2022, an agitation order set was developed to complement the Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS), an agitation assessment tool. Based on the score, the nurse can treat the patient with medications determined by the physician. To support staff affected by WPV, the organization implemented the Johns Hopkins’ RISE peer responder program for those affected by WPV, and nearly sixty staff have volunteered. Care packages are hand delivered network-wide to staff who were physically assaulted on duty.
Results: The request for the BERT team has increased by more than 125% from FY22 to FY23. In FY22, there were 357 calls, which increased to 832 in FY23. From BERT activations, when the patient had PRN medication ordered for agitation, the nurse offered or gave the medication less than half of the time. In the first year, FY23, RISE has disbursed approximately 500 care packages to staff.
Implications: Identified opportunities from data analysis are focused on early identification and proactive interventions for the Psychiatric Emergency Center (PEC), additional training for nursing staff on the proper use of the MOAS assessment tool to treat patients before a behavioral emergency occurs, and a proactive rounding to be done by the BERT nurse utilizing the MOAS scores. The Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression (DASA) tool will be implemented with an aggression protocol for high-risk patients in the PEC to decrease patient-to-staff physical assaults (Griffith et al., 2021). Training will be developed for nurses in acute medical units on when and how to complete the MOAS tool appropriately and adequately medicate the patient based on the MOAS score. The BERT RNs will proactively round on acute medical unit patients who have been identified as high-risk for aggression, as evidenced by high MOAS scores.
Notes
Presenter notes available in attached slide deck.
Reference list included in attached slide deck.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Workplace Violence, WPV, Organizational Culture, Incident Reports, Health Facility Personnel
Recommended Citation
Bosley, Brandi C.; Schweng, Amanda L.; and Sims, Shanan K., "Organizational Approach to Collecting, Monitoring, Analyzing Workplace Violence Data and Providing Support to Staff Affected" (2026). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 54.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2024/presentations_2024/54
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Washington, DC, USA
Conference Year
2024
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-02-18
Organizational Approach to Collecting, Monitoring, Analyzing Workplace Violence Data and Providing Support to Staff Affected
Washington, DC, USA
Significance – Healthcare workers are five times more likely to experience workplace violence than other industries, and 73% all non-fatal workplace violence injuries resulting in missed days of work occur in healthcare settings (OSHA, 2021). WPV costs facilities an estimated $428.5 million nationwide (Van Des Bos et al., 2017). WPV is attributed to burnout, decreased employee morale, increased absenteeism, and increased staff turnover, negatively impacting patient care (Somani et al., 2021).
Background: The organization is a Level 1 Trauma hospital with 573 beds. The Workplace Violence Committee formed in 2018 in response to growing workplace violence incidents. The committee adopted a workplace definition, identified opportunities with data collection, and identified a lack of process for staff follow-up and support (Wyatt et al., 2016). Once the employee enters the data, the information is validated for accuracy. Power BI is utilized for real-time data visualization and to identify trends in data.
Methods: The WPV workgroup was formed to focus on implementing strategic interventions. The Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT) started as a pilot program in 2019, utilizing existing psychiatric nurses to respond to areas outside of behavioral health; dedicated staff were added in 2021 (Yost et al., 2021; Zicko et al., 2017). In 2022, an agitation order set was developed to complement the Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS), an agitation assessment tool. Based on the score, the nurse can treat the patient with medications determined by the physician. To support staff affected by WPV, the organization implemented the Johns Hopkins’ RISE peer responder program for those affected by WPV, and nearly sixty staff have volunteered. Care packages are hand delivered network-wide to staff who were physically assaulted on duty.
Results: The request for the BERT team has increased by more than 125% from FY22 to FY23. In FY22, there were 357 calls, which increased to 832 in FY23. From BERT activations, when the patient had PRN medication ordered for agitation, the nurse offered or gave the medication less than half of the time. In the first year, FY23, RISE has disbursed approximately 500 care packages to staff.
Implications: Identified opportunities from data analysis are focused on early identification and proactive interventions for the Psychiatric Emergency Center (PEC), additional training for nursing staff on the proper use of the MOAS assessment tool to treat patients before a behavioral emergency occurs, and a proactive rounding to be done by the BERT nurse utilizing the MOAS scores. The Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression (DASA) tool will be implemented with an aggression protocol for high-risk patients in the PEC to decrease patient-to-staff physical assaults (Griffith et al., 2021). Training will be developed for nurses in acute medical units on when and how to complete the MOAS tool appropriately and adequately medicate the patient based on the MOAS score. The BERT RNs will proactively round on acute medical unit patients who have been identified as high-risk for aggression, as evidenced by high MOAS scores.
Description
A large, academic, safety-net level 1 trauma center hospital system’s five-year journey to collecting, monitoring, and analyzing workplace violence incidents. The organization identified an appropriate definition for workplace violence and implemented a data collection and prevention plan.