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SJHH / Quality & Performance/ A Commitment to Transparency/ Violence Prevention

Prevention of violence

Violence in any form will not be ignored

St. Joe's sees hundreds of thousands of patients each year and the vast majority treat healthcare workers with dignity and respect. But every incident of violence is one too many and St. Joe’s is committed to doing more to address it.

Violence and harassment include physical assault of any kind, verbal abuse, racial and identity-based insults, physical threats and sexual harassment.

This is not only a St. Joe's challenge. It is an issue across Canada and beyond. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that between eight per cent and 38 per cent of health care workers suffer physical violence at a certain point in their careers, with many more threatened or exposed to verbal aggression.

At St. Joe's, we will not ignore violence in any form.

Security is onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support staff, patients and visitors.

If you witness or experience violence or harassment at SJHH, please take the following actions:

Inform your care team or contact patient relations with any concerns.

· Immediately inform your manager or their delegate.

· Complete the Healthcare Worker Incident Report (HIR)* on MyStJoes or by clicking the HIR button on the desktop of any hospital computer.

There are some situations where you may need to activate a Code White or a Code Silver and/or notify police. See the MyStJoes resources below for more information:

Actions St. Joe’s takes after a staff member submits an incident report

All incident reports are reviewed by the staff member’s manager, members of the Occupational Health and Safety team and respective site Joint Health and Safety Committee.

The occupational health nurse will contact the staff member to assess, provide support and resources, and facilitate referrals as needed. At this time, the staff member will be offered individual support from a member of the senior leadership Team. The senior leadership team is always made aware of significant issues.

The staff member’s manager will review the report with them to ensure that all reasonable corrective actions are identified and implemented to prevent recurrence. Once the report has been updated with these actions, the staff member will be notified via email to review the corrective measures documented in the report.

Collectively, incident reporting data leads to a better understanding of needs in specific areas and across the organization. St. Joe’s collects and reports on workplace violence and responsive behaviours monthly. The Occupational Health and Safety team shares this data with leaders upon request to support trend analysis, root cause investigations, and the development of policies, procedures, and training. Incident reports are also reviewed monthly by the Prevention of Workplace Violence Committee to identify trends across units and inform targeted corporate prevention strategies.

Mental health support

A list of supports for healthcare workers* on MyStJoes.

For more information about reporting incidents, please visit the Support to Report page* on MyStJoes.

*Please note: All hyperlinks with an asterisk (*) link to internal operations material on the MyStJoes intranet and can only be accessed through the internal St. Joe's network.

Actions St. Joe’s is taking to prevent violence

St. Joe's has created a multi-disciplinary working group to address workplace violence, which includes hospital leadership, subject matter experts, a patient and family advisor and frontline staff.

The group is overseeing the launch of a new poster and campaign designed to bring attention to the issue of healthcare worker violence and the need to do more to prevent it. The campaign will include signage across the hospital and first-hand accounts from our healthcare workers about their experiences with workplace violence, to ensure our teams, patients, visitors and everyone in our community knows that at St. Joe’s, violence will not be ignored.

The working group is also embarking on a review of practices to ensure that we are using evidence-based best practices and doing everything we can to prevent violence in the workplace. As part of this effort, St. Joe’s will work with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to assess and make recommendations on St. Joe’s workplace safety systems and practices and organizational culture.

St. Joe’s has already started making some important changes to improve workplace safety, including the introduction of additional security personnel, security cameras, panic alarms and enhanced safety training.

Other Resources:

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Prevention of violence

If you are a patient or visitor

If you are a staff member, physician, learner or volunteer