8 DECEMBER 2023ELDERCARE REVIEWAs a career Human Resources professional, I see workplace violence trends as a contributor to the healthcare worker shortage facing our nation. Workplace violence should not be a reason that seasoned healthcare workers leave their professions, or that students choose to avoid healthcare careers. Caregivers must be able to focus on patient care without worrying about verbal or physical threats from patients and visitors.As one of the largest not-for-profit integrated healthcare delivery systems in the U.S., Sentara Healthcare places this issue front and center. We have taken proactive steps over the last several years to mitigate workplace violence and empower our 30,000 team members to avoid incidents of violence and keep each other safe.Sentara Healthcare convened a Workplace Violence Prevention Task Force in 2020 which has designed a multifaceted program to educate and empower employees and assess all our sites of care and business for their vulnerability to violence. The task force has evolved into a standing committee, which oversees the work of divisional Core Threat Assessment Teams, who monitor monthly violence data and respond accordingly. We hired a system director of security with a background in law enforcement, anti-terrorism, and hospital security. We posted signage in all sites of care, spelling out visitor behaviors MITIGATING THE RISK OF WORKPLACE VIOLENCE IN HEALTHCARE SETTINGSBy Mel Goodrich, SVP, Chief People Officer, Sentara HealthcareMel Goodrich
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