Emergency Department Workers’ Perceptions of Security Officers’ Effectiveness During Violent Events

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Work
• Personal Author:
  Gillespie, Gordon Lee ; Gates, Donna M. ; Miller, Margaret ; Howard, Patricia Kunz
• Description:
  Objective: ; The emergency department (ED) is among the most at-risk settings for violence by patients and visitors against ED workers. A first response to potential or actual events of workplace violence is often contacting hospital security officers for assistance. The purpose of this study is to describe ED workers’ views of security officers’ effectiveness during actual events of verbal and/or physical violence. ; Participants: ; Healthcare workers (n=31) from an urban pediatric ED in the Midwest United States. Methods: Participants were interviewed regarding their experiences with workplace violence. Verbatim transcripts were qualitatively analyzed. ; Results: ; Six themes were identified: (1) a need for security officers, (2) security officers’ availability and response, (3) security officers’ presence or involvement, (4) security officers’ ability to handle violent situations, (5) security officers’ role with restraints, and (6) security officers’ role with access. ; Conclusions: ; It is important that early communication between security officers and ED workers takes place before violent events occur. A uniform understanding of the roles and responsibilities of security officers should be clearly communicated to ED workers. Future research needs to be conducted with hospital-based security officers to describe their perceptions about their role in the prevention and management of workplace violence.
• Subjects:
  • Adult
  • Emergency Service, Hospital
  • Female
  • Hospitals, Pediatric
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Medical Staff, Hospital
  • Middle Aged
  • Midwestern United States
  • Occupational Health Services
  More +
• Keywords:
  • workplace violence
  • emergency department
  • security officers
  • pediatrics
• Source:
  Work. 42(1):21-27
• Pubmed ID:
  22635146
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8882054
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  T42 OH008432/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; T42/OH008432/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  42
• Issue:
  1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/114870/cdc_114870_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 63.04 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d164c3a3794f95f7f4b15f8a5c36af9c7d5659f7ed97547bb945e40b98e3fb923a9aa63eb4000762b372d32dcf776662f985df13e540bab7c7bdb77303ea6599