Bluewater Health is using technology to deliver interactive
staff education on workplace violence prevention to raise awareness and stimulate
discussion.
Health Quality Ontario had a chance to catch up with Dave Remy, Director of Quality Improvement, Patient Experience, Risk
Management and Volunteer Services at Bluewater Health in Sarnia to learn more.
What prompted you to
find a new way to deliver staff workplace violence prevention education?
As new employees enter a healthcare organization, there are
numerous e-learning modules to complete. While traditional methods such as PowerPoint
presentations with audio have been widely used, we wanted to find a more
interactive approach.
There has been a lot of emphasis on workplace violence within the
healthcare field and given the importance of this topic, we wanted to do
something that was more engaging and impactful to help with knowledge transfer and
mobilization.
My background and interest in social media prompted me to
search for other methods of education delivery. Through my search, I found an
online tool called
VideoScribe. This tool allows
you to create engaging whiteboard videos without any previous experience. You
can view YouTube video tutorials to help you learn very quickly. Once you
complete your whiteboard videos, you can upload them to YouTube.
Bluewater Health Workplace Violence Staff Education Video
How did you develop
the content and vision for your video?
The focus of the video is on defining workplace violence,
describing strategies to mitigate situations (i.e. prevention) and raising
awareness on reporting incidents. Workplace violence prevention content was
sourced from various resources, including Public Services Health and Safety
Association, RNAO Best Practice Guidelines and Non-Crisis Violence Intervention
training.
Input and feedback were provided by the hospital’s workplace
violence prevention committee and frontline staff, particularly in the Emergency
Department, Intensive Care Unit, and Cognitive Care. The video was shared with
multiple organizational stakeholders to provide additional feedback and clarity.
How did you implement
the workplace violence prevention training in your organization?
We completed a soft launch in November, 2018 on Change Day. The Workplace Violence Staff Education Video was screened on various units and quizzes were completed together. This
approach generated very engaging conversations among staff, which is really
what we were trying to accomplish.
The hard launch was February, 2019. To complete this
mandatory training, staff must watch the 14-minute video and complete a 10-question
quiz at the end.
What feedback have
you received from frontline staff?
The feedback we have received from staff has been very
positive. Staff have reported they liked the format because it was engaging and
easy to watch. They were able to retain the information much better and they
enjoyed hearing the patient perspective. The message that Bluewater Health
supports staff in reducing workplace violence was also very well received.
What are your next
steps?
At Bluewater Health we have low numbers of reported
workplace violence incidents and we have learned many frontline staff have
‘normalized’ violent encounters as being ‘part of the job.’ We are hoping that
from this video, our number of reported incidences will reflect what we know is
actually happening. We are monitoring this on our annual Quality Improvement
Plan.
The Workplace Violence Prevention Training Video will be
supported by shorter “tips” videos. These will be launched monthly to keep the
momentum and conversation ongoing.
We are also implementing staff suggestions, like enhanced
messaging for people who call our hospital and are on hold. Engaging staff in
the solution will be key to our workplace violence prevention efforts.
Do you help to address
workplace violence in your organization? Add a comment or question below, or
reach out to
Dave Remy, on Quorum.