INTRODUCING eLEARNING, THE FIRST IMMERSIVE ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR AGGRESSION MANAGEMENT IN HEALTHCARE

Alan Butler, CHPA | Senior Vice President of Healthcare Security, HSS

For nearly 50 years, HSS has provided security staffing, technology integration, and staff training in healthcare facilities across the United States. We are pleased to announce the launch of the nation’s first-ever immersive online training solution for aggression management and violence de-escalation in healthcare facilities.

HSS has a solution for all healthcare facilities whose administrators are concerned about protecting their staff from the risks of escalating workplace violence. California is one of the first states to pass a workplace violence regulation bill for healthcare facilities. We expect that many other states will soon follow suit due to healthcare facilities’ elevated risk and incident frequency.

Tight budgets and busy, inflexible schedules have long been reasons that healthcare facilities postpone, or even forgo, workplace violence training. eLearning reduces costs by over 40% compared to most instructor-led courses. The ability to access training online 24/7 allows staff to focus on excellent patient care during their shift.

The eLearning program includes high caliber videos, simulation modules, real-life healthcare case studies, downloadable job aids, workbooks, instructor-led sessions, and group discussions. In other words, eLearning is much more effective than an information-dense slide deck.

TEAM® is the only comprehensive aggression management training program of its kind. Our team of experienced healthcare professionals designed TEAM® specifically for the healthcare environment, to aid any healthcare facility employee who might confront the hazards of human conflict, from staff to physicians to administration and officers.

Participants are trained to identify factors that can escalate to aggression or violence and are taught the critical skills to confidently keep themselves and others safe. The complete TEAM® program was endorsed by the Hospital Association of Southern California, the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California and the California Hospital Association as the preferred solution for California’s hospital systems.

If you’re interested in learning more about TEAM®, you can contact Seth Karnes at 844.477.7781 or skarnes@hss-us.com. We are passionate about empowering healthcare facilities to handle disruptive behavior and secure their environment.

Call-out:

“This immersive new TEAM® Online Essentials program allows us to improve upon one of our most important service areas, employee training, as we work hard to make the healthcare environment safer for both patients and healthcare employers alike.”
Tony York, CPP, CHPA, President and CEO of HSS

TEAM® Essentials eLearning is perfect for new employee orientation or system-wide training and is fully compliant with important healthcare oversight organizations such as The Joint Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), DNV National Integrated Accreditation for Healthcare (NIAHO), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) guidelines. When paired with other TEAM programs intended for hospital personnel in high-risk areas of healthcare facilities, TEAM provides a total solution for your entire organization to feel confident and capable in managing workplace violence.

ENVIRONMENT MATTERS: CRAFTING A CUSTOMIZED VIOLENCE PREVENTION STRATEGY FOR THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Alan Butler, CHPA | Senior Vice President of Healthcare Security, HSS

This is the third and final installment of our Environment Matters blog series. Here, we argue that organizations with rich healthcare experience make the best partner in emergency preparedness and violence prevention planning and training for Emergency Departments. You can learn more about the situation of healthcare violence in recent years in the first Environment Matters post [link to blog #1]. And to see how we approach ED assessments, click here [link to blog #2].

There are many theories on how to overcome patient-generated violence. There are also many people in the healthcare space who will tell you we are fighting a losing battle. The truth is, patient-generated violence in the ED, short of the rare illogical and explosive event, is entirely manageable. It starts and ends with tailor-made violence prevention and mitigation strategies, and is brought together with a proactive environmental management and staff training program.

Because of environmental and patient variables, healthcare providers must manage the ED and the associated safety risks to staff, patients and visitors differently than any other care environment in the hospital. To make the point, let’s consider these variables in two patient care areas most commonly associated with patient-generated violence towards staff, the ED and a Behavioral Health unit.

Most organizations offer one-size-fits-all security and violence prevention solutions. At HSS, we understand that healthcare security and workplace violence is saddled with unique challenges. Our belief is that each healthcare facility requires a solution customized to their needs. HSS can prepare your organization to deal with a wide variety of security scenarios in a way that makes sense for your facility and staff.

We provide a comprehensive selection of planning, hospital emergency management training, and exercise offerings to better prepare you for the unexpected. Our staff brings decades of real-world experience to aid in the preparedness of your organization.

HSS’s Techniques for Effective Aggression Management (TEAM®) training empowers your staff with violence prevention and workplace safety knowledge. TEAM® training can be delivered by a certified instructor or online. eLearning is a convenient 24 hours a day, 7 days a week option that maximizes staff productivity and typically reduces costs by 40%. eLearning is just as immersive and compelling as our live training and a perfect solution for facilities with time and budget restraints.

Through our TEAM® training and its sister program for Emergency Department safety (ED-Safe), we provide staff with the tools necessary to reduce injuries sustained by patients, staff and visitors. HSS launched ED-Safe as a proactive custom program to help hospitals secure their Emergency Departments and recognize environmental changes. Properly training staff to recognize, understand, react and manage environmental changes provides a safer, more productive environment for staff and patients, and allows staff to focus on providing patient care activities.

To learn more about how your facility can benefit from TEAM® training and ED-Safe, contact Seth Karnes at 844.477.7781 or skarnes@hss-us.com. We’d love to partner with you to secure your ED and protect those in it.

ENVIRONMENT MATTERS: ASSESSING YOUR EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Alan Butler, CHPA | Senior Vice President of Healthcare Security, HSS

This is the second blog in the three-part blog series, Environment Matters, in which we outline our Focused Security Assessment process. To better understand the impact violence has on the healthcare industry, read the first blog post here [link to blog #1]. Stay tuned for part three, where we discuss the necessity of customized violence prevention strategies.

Hiring a reputable consulting firm is a surefire way to evaluate your violence prevention and mitigation strategy against industry standards. We recommend collaborating with a healthcare-focused organization as they will be acutely aware of all the elements that influence the ED as well as its visitors, patients, and staff.

Before meeting with a consulting firm, we find it’s helpful to assess your Emergency Department. This article provides a step-by-step approach to doing just that.

Community and Hospital Factors

Your ED is a reflection of your community. Is there a drug of choice and what are the medical side effects? Are there gangs in your community and how do staff recognize gang members? Is there an influx of homeless people when it gets cold and what issues accompany this patient population? These are examples of questions you and your team should have answers to.

Determine if your ED is a low-, medium-, or high-risk environment. To do this, start with a CAP Index® Score (Crimes Against Person) and evaluate statistics around volume–number of annual visits, peak load times, patients with a primary or secondary behavioral health diagnosis, average length of stay, etc. Next, Create a Risk Stratification Model and position your hospital against similar hospitals. These exercises inform the type of security presence, system integration and training solution the hospital will deploy.  

Design

The International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety, Design Guidelines for Healthcare Facilities, views the physical design of the ED as a secured area that serves as an added layer of protection between the healthcare facility, public, and treatment areas. When making design decisions, ask yourself: Does the ED, from door in to door out, work to create a safe staff and patient care environment?

Security Presence

Given the level of patient-generated violence in hospitals and on-going tragic events around the country, today’s healthcare administrators recognize the importance of a security officer presence. Security, and in some cases off-duty police officers, is the first line of defense when it comes to protecting patients, visitors, and staff in emergent situations.

Presence takes many forms, from a 6’9” gentle giant to the 5’2” de-escalation expert. It can also come with highly trained security officers who have approved use-of-force tools such as Tasers or licensed police officers working off-duty in your ED. Regardless of who is working security in the ED, they must be a calm, self-confident, educated, and well trained.

Security Training

The quality, quantity, and sequencing of security officer training is critical to the overall success of any healthcare security program. Organizations should create a competency-based training program for its security officers. Officers should also be trained to recognize behaviors associated with certain types of at-risk patient populations. Leadership should evaluate the officer’s ability to successfully intervene in difficult situations and arrive at win-win solutions.

Hospital Staff Training

Failure to train staff appropriately is the biggest miss in healthcare security today. Violence threatens the safety of ED staff, patients and visitors in hospitals of all sizes and settings. According to a study reported in The Journal of Nursing Administration, nearly one in four ED nurses experience frequent (more than 20 times) physical violence over a three-year period. What hospitals need in response to this violence is a two-part structured violence prevention and mitigation program that creates an everyday ED Security Management Plan and Aggression Management Training Plan.

Security System Integration

A practical electronic security strategy, when combined with physical security presence and staff training, enhances the overall security posture of the ED exponentially. The integration of electronic security technology in the ED improves the overall effectiveness of security practices. It also enables the ED to be more productive and make better use of security personnel resources. Your Systems Integration Plan should include many, if not all, of the following:

• Access control
• Video surveillance
• Metal detection
• Panic buttons
• Active security status alert system
• Lockdown/restricted access capabilities
• “Safe” at-risk patient rooms
• “Safe” staff drop-back rooms

At first glance, this assessment may seem daunting. We can guide you through this process and propose an actionable list of next steps. Our experts can help you think through what training best suits your facility’s needs and keeps you compliant.

HSS’s Techniques for Effective Aggression Management (TEAM®) training empowers your staff with violence prevention and workplace safety knowledge. TEAM® training can be delivered by a certified instructor or online. eLearning is a convenient 24 hours a day, 7 days a week option that maximizes staff productivity and typically reduces costs by 40%. eLearning is just as immersive and compelling as our live training and a perfect solution for facilities with time and budget restraints.

To learn more about how your facility can benefit from TEAM® training, contact Seth Karnes at 844.477.7781 or skarnes@hss-us.com. We’d love to partner with you to secure your ED and protect those in it.

ENVIRONMENT MATTERS: UNDERSTANDING HEALTHCARE VIOLENCE TODAY

Alan Butler, CHPA | Senior Vice President of Healthcare Security, HSS

Every day, Emergency Department staff across the country are confronted with patient-driven situations. Experience and training allow staff to execute appropriate responses. However, an uptick in these situations in recent years threatens staff safety as well as the care environment.

In the three-part blog series, Environment Matters, we start with an overview of the impact violence has on the healthcare industry, outline our Focused Security Assessment process, and demonstrate the need for customized violence prevention solutions.

Healthcare Violence in Recent Years

According to data released by the American College of Emergency Physicians in late 2018, 47 percent of emergency physicians reported they were physically assaulted while at work–60 percent say those assaults occurred in the past year. Nearly eight in ten believe patient care is being affected.

Overall, we estimate that proactive and reactive violence response efforts cost U.S. hospitals and health systems approximately $2.7 billion in 2016. This includes $1.1 billion in security and training costs to prevent violence within hospitals, and an additional $429 million in medical care, staffing, indemnity, and other costs as a result of violence against hospital employees.

These are the hard-financial impacts of violence, but there are other costs as well. Violence takes an emotional toll on staff. The psychological impact can include burnout, absenteeism, and dissatisfaction that eventually may lead to turnover.

Understanding Emergency Department Violence

Emergency Department staff are much more likely to be injured than staff in other areas of the hospital. Contributing factors include design, patient volume and wait times, lack of staff training, and the unknowns associated with the patient population.

Let’s consider the situational unknowns unique to the Emergency Department:

• Care providers know little about the patient’s condition, medical history or mental status when they arrive.
• Patients often arrive fully clothed, sometimes with bags of property. Property could include any number of items meant to cause bodily harm to themselves or others.
• Patients may be the victim or the aggressor in a violent act, or a gang member.
• Patients often arrive with family and friends who may help or hinder the care of the patient.
• Many patients have behavioral health issues that may affect the care providers ability to address other immediate medical needs.
• Patients with behavioral health issues may stay in the Emergency Department for extended periods of time while another more appropriate care area is located.

Patient-generated violence directed at caregivers is the number one security challenge today’s healthcare administrators face. No matter the source of the data, the story remains the same: our caregivers, especially those working in the ED, are routinely assaulted and the physical, emotional and financial cost of combating this problem is sizable.

HSS’s Techniques for Effective Aggression Management (TEAM®) training empowers your staff with violence prevention and workplace safety knowledge. TEAM® training can be delivered by a certified instructor or online. eLearning is a convenient 24 hours a day, 7 days a week option that maximizes staff productivity and typically reduces costs by 40%. eLearning is just as immersive and compelling as our live training and a perfect solution for facilities with time and budget restraints.

To learn more about how your facility can benefit from TEAM® training, contact Seth Karnes at 844.477.7781 or skarnes@hss-us.com. We’d love to partner with you to secure your ED and protect those in it.