FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/March 27, 1997 CONTACT: Sara Foer [202/651-7023]; Joan Meehan [202/651-7020] MEDIA ADVISORYANA President Calls for Labor/Management Cooperation to End Workplace Violence in Health Care SettingsWashington, D.C. -- American Nurses Association (ANA) President Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN will speak Thursday, March 27 before a gathering of various health care professionals on the need for effective cooperation between labor and management to adequately address the problem of workplace violence in health care settings. As the only labor organization representative to speak before the first meeting of "Preventing Workplace Violence in Health Care Settings: A National Conference for Decisionmakers of Health and Health-Related Organizations"--which takes place March 26-28 in Arlington, Va., and is sponsored by SafetyNet International with the support of numerous organizations such as ANA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Crime Prevention Council--Malone will advise the attending decisionmakers and administrators to actively incorporate employee input in the development of violence prevention systems at their respective facilities to optimize successful implementation of those programs. In fact, when considering that health care and social service workers are disproportionately affected by workplace violence, with an increased risk factor of approximately 16 percent for those in residential care and an increased risk of roughly 12 percent for those working in nursing and personal care facilities as compared to the total incidence of workplace violence, such labor/management collaborations are imperative to ensuring the health and safety our country's health care providers. Even more telling are Bureau of Labor data for 1993, which indicate that health care and social service workers have the highest incidence of assault injuries. "Labor/management partnerships are critical to the success of violence prevention programs," Malone explains. "Individual workers know the work environment, as well as the signs of escalating hostilities. With employer support, at risk health care providers can implement strategies to prevent and minimize injuries," she contends, highlighting that health care restructuring and downsizing have contributed somewhat to the risk of violence for many health care providers who find themselves working in environments that lack the staff to quickly and efficiently contain potentially violent situations that can occur in emergency rooms or psychiatric wards, for example. In addition, Malone notes workplace violence is not "random and unpredictable" as is often mistakenly believed, and asserts that thoughtful, cooperative examination of an individual facility's risk factors can do much to prevent violence. "The most important thing to remember is that partnership requires a commitment by management to work with employees in assessing the workplace, implementing a plan, staffing appropriately and providing support to injured workers, as well as providing counseling for employees during the post traumatic stress that all parties experience," she says. "Preventing and containing violence is a team effort that begins long before the violence occurs." Nurses can obtain copies of ANA's workplace violence brochure, "Workplace Violence: Can You Close the Door On It?", by calling 1-800-274-4ANA and asking for item number WP-5. The publication comes in packages of 50 for $23. The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million Registered Nurses through its 53 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the work place, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
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