乌鸦视频

Baldwin Wallace is the first and only nursing program in Ohio to offer the distinctive assault response prevention training, HARP®, amid continued violence against healthcare workers.

The growing recognition of the workplace violence facing healthcare workers prompted the 乌鸦视频 nursing program to add new, specialized training for students this fall.

BW's Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program is the first and only nursing program in Ohio to conduct . HARP® teaches evidence-based tactics, specific to healthcare, to improve nurses' competency and confidence in managing different levels of workplace violence from verbal abuse to assault.

Important public health issue

In a report highlighting this "important public health issue and a growing concern," the noted that healthcare staff are five times as likely to suffer workplace violence than workers overall. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is slated to release a healthcare workplace violence standard in the near future, and legislation was recently  that would make violence against healthcare workers a federal crime.

Dr. Christine Kuchenrither, associate professor of nursing and ABSN coordinator, says nursing students who experience workplace violence during clinicals may suffer anxiety and stress and even question their choice of nursing as a career.

"BW's nursing faculty felt a strong need to provide our future nurses with the HARP® Training," Kuchenrither says. "The training is best practice information essential in empowering our students to identify high-risk situations and to foster a culture of safety for themselves, the patient and the healthcare community."

De-escalation tools and tactics

HARP® Training is a proprietary program developed by KLA Risk Consulting, based in Dublin, Ohio, and recommended by the Ohio Hospital Association. Dr. Kelly Austin, vice president of Hospital Workplace Violence, led the training at BW.

She explained that preparation for workplace violence is critical because our health systems and patients need nurses. Austin stated, "If a nursing student chooses not to go into the profession, it should not be from being unprepared to recognize and reasonably respond to workplace violence." 

That's where HARP® comes in.

Evidence-based approaches

BW's HARP® Training included a mix of evidence-based best practices, videos, case studies and hands-on practice in the types of physical assaults nurses are most likely to encounter.

Austin says that HARP® "improves earlier recognition of agitation and aggression and a staff member's immediate, reasonable response to it. Physical and psychological safety are the priorities!"

Students also learned to maintain empathy and objectivity while managing different levels of workplace violence. Austin says, "These are key in utilizing critical thinking skills to achieve a successful outcome in whatever situation is unfolding in front of them."

"The incidence of workplace violence most hospitals are experiencing is preventable and does not have to continue. When you increase the safety of healthcare workers, you increase the safety of patients," Austin told the students who will graduate in December. "Thanks to BW, you are better prepared than most nursing students."