Are you in the health care field? If you are, and have been for at least a year, I bet you already have stories about workplace violence happening where you work. My focus in this article is on a strange phenomenon which has existed in the health care field for a long time, but nowhere else where workplace violence is a "given."

There is the common belief in the health care industry, that violence in the workplace is "just a part of the job." This belief is held almost universally, from the floor nurse and nursing assistant, right up through management to the highest level of administration.

And, the common methods for dealing with the fact that the healthcare industry ranks 3rd out of all occupations for the number of workplace violence attacks that occur each year, range from denial to relying on patient agreements drafted by an attorney who believes that such a device will prevent an irrational, deranged, or agitated individual from lashing out!

The fact that, just like most other businesses, even if the facility has a workplace violence plan or policy, there is a curious absence of defensive training for the personal safety of workers.

I say "curious," because in every other industry where violence in the workplace is a given - where it's seen as "just part of the job" - there is mandatory training to protect the employee from harm during these incidents. If we look at industries and occupations like:

• Law enforcement
• Physical security, and...
• Military service

...we can see that violence is, or could be, a natural part of the job.

And, if we can see that healthcare workers are subject to constant and never-ending contact with patients, family members, and guests who may be suffering from the effects of pain, grief, mental disorders, and/or the negative effects from the interactions of medications...

...the situation for the average nurse or other medical professional is the same as that of the police officer.

In fact, with statistics showing that the average nurse is assaulted 1 to 3 times per year, it's worse!

And yet, there is little to nothing in the way of personal safety or self defense training to protect these workers from what is obviously "a part of the job."
The point here is this...

If other occupations where violence is a natural part of the job have necessary and required training to protect the worker - why do healthcare administrators think their industry is different?

When there are laws that all of us must abide by that make it illegal to assault a police officer - and police officers who are armed with weapons and powers of arrest - still get attacked...

...how can administrators, and the lawyers who work for them, believe that a patient or employee contract will prevent the same thing from happening to a doctor, nurse, or technician?

There is a growing trend within the medical industry to move toward providing the necessary training to not only prevent and prosecute acts of workplace violence against medical professionals, but to provide the necessary training that would allow workers to defend against and escape from violent attacks.

It's time to change the standard operating procedure in the medical industry from one of denial and apathy, to one of proactive preparedness. Only then will workers be more safe, and the healthcare worker will have the same benefit of defensive and personal safety training that is provided and available to other occupations where violence is "just part of the job!"

Are you concerned about the effects of violence erupting in your facility - against your medical professionals? But, where do you begin to get the training your people need to keep them safe, but not turn them into fighters or trained killers? By getting educated about the differences between real-world self protection skills and fighting.
You can get more self defense and workplace violence articles at: http://wcinternational.com/articles.html

Jeffrey M. Miller is an internationally-recognized self-protection expert. He specializes in providing workplace violence defensive training to hospitals, schools & universities, and businesses, worldwide. Jeff is a contributing author to the books, "Workplace Violence In The Medical And General Healthcare Setting," (Privitera, Michael; et al. 2010, Jones & Bartlett Pub.) and "GIS in Hospital and Healthcare Emergency Management." (Skinner, Ric; at al. 2010, CRC Press). He may be reached through his website or by calling his international office in the US at (570) 988-2228.

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