Incident Reporting by Health-Care Workers in Noninstitutional Care Settings

Abstract

Patient-perpetrated violence and aggression toward health-care workers, specifically in noninstitutional health-care settings, cause concerns for both health-care providers and the clients whom they serve. Consequentially, this presents a public affairs problem for the entire health-care system, which the current research has failed to adequately address. While the literature overwhelmingly supports the assertion that accurate incident reporting is critical to fully understanding patient violence and aggression toward health-care providers, there is limited research examining provider decision making related to reporting incidents of patient violence and aggression targeted toward the provider. There is an even greater paucity of research specifically examining this issue in noninstitutional health-care settings. It is therefore the objective of this review to examine this phenomenon across disciplines and service settings in order to offer a comprehensive review of incident reporting and to examine rationales for providers reporting or failing to report instances of patient violence and aggression toward health-care providers.

Serving Our Homeless Veterans: Patient Perpetrated Violence as a Barrier to Health Care Access

“…These have been described as dimensions of access by other researchers (Roghmann, Hengst & Zastowny, 1979;Tessler & Mechanic, 1975). Violence also has a negative impact on personnel productivity, personal health, and organizational efficiency, often causing financial loss in the form of employee compensation claims (Campbell, 2016;DiMartino, 2003;Hesketh et al, 2003;Kelloway & Day, 2005).…”

“…Studies have reported the association between workplace violence and employee absenteeism, intentions to quit, and turnover (Beech & Leather, 2006;Campbell, 2016;Heponiemi et al, 2008;Jackson, Clare, & Mannix, 2002;Kelloway & Day, 2005;McGovern et al, 2000;Sherman et al, 2008). Staff shortages caused by workplace violence have a direct impact on the provision of health care (Blegan, Goode, & Reed, 1998;Brewer, 2005;Heponiemi et al, 2008).…”

“…Being able to receive quality care in the home for those who are unable to go to a facility and community setting is essential to reintegration. However, concerns of safety or the threat of violence toward health care workers visiting veterans' homes can present significant barriers to access (Barling, Rogers & Kelloway, 2001;Bussing & Hodge, 2004;Campbell, 2016;Campbell, McCoy, Burg & Hoffman, 2013;Hutchings, Lundrigan, Mathews, Lynch & Goosney, 2011;Janocha & Smith, 2010). Reports show frequent incidents of veteran clients engaging in violent attacks against health care workers (Beech & Leather, 2006;Blow, Barry, Copeland, McCormick, Lehmann & Ulman, 1999;Campbell, Burg, & Gammonley, 2015;Hodgson et al, 2008;Silver, Keefer & Rosenfeld, 2011).…”

“…A recent database search of PubMed, EBSCO, Academic Search Premier, ProQuest, and Google Scholar yielded no articles that provide information on violence prevention or incidences against providers servicing the needs of HUD/VASH recipients. A study by Campbell (2016) suggests that almost 70% of 236 health care employee respondents, surveyed from September 2015 to January 2016, who provide homebased services, experienced verbal, physical, or sexual patient perpetrated violence and aggression. Even with prevention mechanisms in place, violence in home health care settings remains a challenge and often goes under-reported (Campbell et al, 2013;Campbell, 2016).…”

“…A study by Campbell (2016) suggests that almost 70% of 236 health care employee respondents, surveyed from September 2015 to January 2016, who provide homebased services, experienced verbal, physical, or sexual patient perpetrated violence and aggression. Even with prevention mechanisms in place, violence in home health care settings remains a challenge and often goes under-reported (Campbell et al, 2013;Campbell, 2016). Studies have reported on the negative impact that these types of incidents have on personnel productivity, employee turnover, and the organizational costs, thus creating a financial loss and a decrease in the quality of care received by the patient (Kelloway & Day, 2005;Campbell et al, 2015).…”