Assaults Against Caregivers in Nursing Homes

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fitzwater E ; Gates D ; Sommers L ; Succop P
• Description:
  PROBLEM UNDER STUDY: Increasing violence against healthcare workers prompted OSHA to publish guidelines in 1996 regarding the actions employers must take to protect their employees from violence. The worker at greatest risk for non-fatal assault is the nursing assistant (NA) working in long-term care. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to describe the context in which the assaults occur and to test an educational intervention to decrease the incidence of assaults against NAs in nursing homes. METHOD OR APPROACH: Six nursing homes were randomly chosen to participate in the study, three intervention and three comparison. All full-time, English speaking NAs were encouraged to participate in the study; the data collection and intervention took place at the nursing homes. One hundred and thirty eight subjects volunteered to participate in the study. Each NA carried an Assault Log for 80 hours of work both before and after the intervention and recorded the following information when an assault occurred: 1. Number of residents assigned; 2. Diagnosis of resident who assaulted; 3. Type of assault; 4. Care-giving activity being performed when assaulted; and 5. Whether an injury occurred. The intervention, based on Social Cognitive Theory, consisted of educational and problem-solving sessions. RESULTS: Findings include the following: 1. Total number of assaults was 624; 2. Mean number of assaults was 4.69 with a range of 0-67; 3. Number of NAs with no assaults was 39 (29%); and 4. Mean number of assaults for those NAs with at least one assault (N=94) was 6.64. Of the 624 assaults, 51% included hitting or punching and 40% included grabbing, pinching, or pulling hair. Of the 624 assaults, 43% occurred during dressing or changing and 26% during turning or transferring. For four nursing homes (N=88), two comparison and two intervention, there was a significant decrease (p<.05) in the number of assaults for the intervention group. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that assaults against NAs in nursing homes are frequent events for many NAs. Findings indicate that the incidence of assaults can be reduced through an educational intervention. Further data analysis is needed to examine how variables such as staff-resident ratio, resident diagnosis, and characteristics of the worker are related to the incidence of assault. LIMITS: There is a possibility of selection bias since subjects volunteered to participate. The representativeness of the sample may be limited since subjects were all English speaking and working in nursing homes in a specific geographical location. CONTRIBUTION OF THE PROJECT TO THE FIELD: Traditionally, aggressive Behaviour by nursing home residents, sometimes resulting in injury, has not been addressed as a health and safety problem for NAs. This study raises awareness about the working conditions of NAs who provide 90% of the hands-on care to residents. The elderly population is expected to increase 17 percent from 1995 to 2010 and 75 percent from 2010 to 2030. Along with this aging population it is expected that the need for nursing home beds and NAs will also increase. Improving the working conditions for NAs will not only improve their health and safety, but also that of the residents. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety Violence
• Keywords:
  Assaults Health Care Health Care Facilities Health Care Personnel Health Care Workers Intervention Effectiveness Nurses Nursing Violence Prevention
• ISBN:
  2760618455
• Publisher:
  Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  415-416
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058693
• Citation:
  6th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control, May 12-15, 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 2002 May; :415-416
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Performing Organization:
  University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19990930
• Source Full Name:
  6th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Control, May 12-15, 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• End Date:
  20030929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:45c63ce9fb23bec2183b57a98c7b9f91f61bb741bb3c5ed35445282eea5c1bf65020e3f123313be85afbcf14f851fdfe83f4a16ce76f2a71e9e2a3a5603b7ce8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221726/cdc_221726_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 57.95 KB ]