Kathleen Wessel (Host): Nurses are some of the most impacted by violence in healthcare. The recent polls show that they're not alone. Physicians are also experiencing these same attacks. Welcome

to a HA Associates Bringing Value, a podcast from the American Hospital Association. In these series of podcasts, we speak with a HA associate program, business partners check out on their efforts and learn how they support a HA hospital and health system members. I'm Kathleen Wassel, vice President of Business Management and Operations at the A HA, and today I'm joined by Andrea Greco, senior Vice President of Healthcare Safety for ss.

Together we'll discuss workplace violence prevention, dissect the biggest barriers to violence, mitigation, and outline tips to successfully overcome them. Andrea, welcome to the podcast.

Andrea Greco: Thank you, Kathleen. I'm really excited to be here to talk about such an important topic in healthcare.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): It is an incredibly, incredibly important topic. So I value the time spent with you today. I want to level set for, um, our listeners, and usually we like to start off these podcasts by giving a little sense of yourself, your background And what brought you to your organization. Could you share with that with us?

Andrea Greco: Yeah, I'd love to. Thank you. So I've been fortunate in my professional career to always work in exciting technology companies. That's everything from software as a service and hardware as a service as well. And about 10 years ago. I was able to then start focusing on healthcare exclusively, and that's ultimately how I found strategics.

In that experience that I've had over the last 10 years. I focused on patient experience and engagement as well as employee engagement, satisfaction and safety. And while we focus on employee safety at strategics with our safety platform solutions, we know that that has an ultimately positive impact on. Patient satisfaction, patient wellbeing, and organization's wellbeing as well.

So it's been really exciting to find a mix of all of my experiences that I can bring to the table and be a thought leader for organizations across the country.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): Yeah, all of those factors intersect when it comes to workplace violence. So I completely understand, uh, where and how you got to where you are today. Next question is a two-parter. First, can you provide an overview of the current landscape for workplace violence in healthcare settings? And the second part of That is can you touch on some of the obstacles organizations are facing when strengthening their safety plans?

Andrea Greco: I'd say first, the current landscape of workplace violence in healthcare is still pretty grim. We see a large percentage, over 40% of nurses that say that they're looking to leave the field, whether or not that's through retirement or a voluntary exit of the profession over the next several years.

And there are many factors that go into those decisions, but one of those main factors is safety, or therefore the lack of feeling safe within their organization. And so part of what's really holding organizations back of addressing those kinds of topics is really, it's a pretty large ship to turn.

There's a lot to address to make sure that you have a layered safety plan in place that can really impact all the areas that safety needs to be addressed within a care organization. But also there's still a lingering mindset of. Things will resolve themselves or that it's part of the job.

And while a lot of organizations say that they take workplace violence prevention seriously, they do, but they don't always know where to start. And if you don't know where to start, it's really hard to then take action And then empower and protect some of those most trusted resources that you have.

Which are your frontline staff, both clinical and non-clinical.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): I know a HA has done a lot of work in this area, along with, um, some of our other professional associations. It's evident that workplace violence poses a significant challenge to our member organizations. What are some of the biggest barriers to success for workplace violence prevention?

Andrea Greco: You know, and I'm glad that you mentioned what AJ is doing as well. We've been able to partner with your organization and more specifically hospitals against Violence to do a series of webinars and educational discussions so that we can start talking about these barriers And what to do about them.

So there's a really, a couple that come to mind for me that are barriers in having a successful workplace violence prevention program in place. And the first one is around assessment. Really just identifying the right personnel to take a hard look at your organization and understand where the largest areas of opportunity are to address safety within your specific organization.

Because addressing safety is a very personalized. Plan that needs to be put in place to address the needs that you have. So really identifying what the needs of your organization are, And then putting an action plan in place. So you need the right resources, you need that assessment, then you need the ability to take action.

Many times. Then there are lots of solutions out there that, um, can make up the layers of a safety plan. Some of Those are technology driven, some are around training or policies and procedures. And again, it's really where you place your priority on where you address those different things of the needs of your organization.

One of the last factors is really to set the stage for continuous improvement, And that often means dedicating a person or a team of people to keep an eye on those efforts. Are they effective? Are they having the planned impact that you'd like to see both on your employees, your patient's, and their families, And then your organization as a whole?

Kathleen Wessel (Host): What's step number one? Where do I go?

Andrea Greco: Well, even before you can do that assessment that I mentioned, it has to be a priority. Making it a true priority to address workplace violence and preventing it within your organization starts with allowing that to rise to the top. Healthcare today sees so many competing priorities for time, attention, resources, And so this has to be an organization-wide initiative to really gain steam and again, that support that's needed.

To make sure that That is seen as a priority within your organization. This needs to be leadership driven. It needs to be clear that there is both support and accountability and responsibility across the organization to then address workplace violence prevention needs that you have. That would be everything from setting up policies and procedures, investing in additional tools, maybe even most importantly, having the right data and reporting available.

To generate the right conversation, right visibility, and again, that continuous improvement that needs to be a part of every solution. And then also that consistent and transparent communication model. Again, making sure that the employees in particular know that addressing workplace violence prevention, keeping them safe, and hearing them and protecting them is a priority for the organization.

Communicating around that. Again, the plan, the actions, And the follow-up from that, communicating all of That is very key. That repetition of showcasing what that dialogue is all about is really important as well.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): Okay. You've mentioned a layered approach. How can leaders leverage that kind of thinking to contribute to a comprehensive safety plan?

Andrea Greco: Like with most things, there's no silver bullet or one answer fits all solution that can be put in place to address safety needs of a particular organization. And so really again, starting with that assessment of your particular facility or organization, And then identify the top areas to tackle. And then dive into what are the best solutions that you need to satisfy those top areas of need.

Strengthening safety around environmental modifications. Training resources really bolstering those up, making training readily available and accessible to your employees while again, layering in that leader driven communication around why it's in place, why it's needed, and why it was made available in the first place. And then you can do things like invest in solutions like strategics, safety platform that empower entire organization to identify when action is needed.

Accelerate incident response, timing, and enable better situational awareness for all involved when responding to a workplace violence event. Again, I mentioned the key importance of data and reporting, And then we also have an element around visitor management. If you know who is in your building where and why they are there and where they plan to go.

Along with patient's and family members, that's also another important element of having a holistic or that umbrella view of your organization. Our Crisis Alert solution is a staff duress button, and That is the core foundation of our safety platform, because that's what we focus in on most, is a key element of a workplace violence prevention program is enabling a way for everyone to identify that they have action that's needed to keep them safe.

Action can then be taken very quickly.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): I've seen those Crisis alert. I did not know that that was the, the term for those. I love that idea And that concept, building a successful, long-term, comprehensive safety plan is crucial. What are some examples of using Crisis Alert to contribute to safety today? What are some examples? What are you seeing?

How are members actually using And what are some of the benefits that they're experiencing?

Andrea Greco: I think one of the first benefits that an organization experiences is an uptick in employee satisfaction. Anytime employees have demonstrated a need for safety to be addressed within the organization, and it is their satisfaction's going to go up, they're going to feel heard and supported, And then that also then leads into.

Utilization or adoption of a tool or a solution. And then that in turn is a positive benefit or value delivered to the organization. So in general, just making that decision that happens, but specific to crisis Alert. We are able to deliver the fastest response possible when someone needs support or they feel unsafe anytime, anywhere on campus.

So we also encourage that all employees receive a crisis alert badge, so not just frontline or clinical staff members. All of your employees from valet to EVS to folks that may work in cafeteria or gift shop because everyone is one, a part of a culture of safety that's built within an organization.

But everyone leaves the building and goes to their mode of transportation or goes to the parking garage or other areas outside the building. So we protect every employee while they're inside the building as well as outside coming and going to work no matter what their setting is in that care environment.

We can see increase in confidence of knowing that help is always just that. One badge press away. So you wear our badge all the time as a part of your credentials, as a part of your uniform, and it's there with you all the time. And again, it works inside and outside the building.

We see a high adoption rate of our solution because we do not track an employee through that badge all the time. Only when an alert is activated. And then we are able to tell responding personnel exactly who needs help and where they are specifically both, either within the building or outside.

We also see an increase in the use of data around incidents and near misses that are reported so that you can use that information in all kinds of layers or different. Examples of decision-making, whether or not it's around staffing or how security patrols a building, if you have onsite security as well, or maybe different times that leadership are available on campus.

I've mentioned the, the phrase culture of safety a couple of times, and That is really important to make sure that any investment that you make is supporting that build of a culture of safety. And so anytime that you do that, you want it to be one where employees feel supported and empowered to leverage the technologies and or solutions that you've invested in to improve safety of the whole entire environment.

And then throughout our customer base, we have heard that 98% of our users say that wearing our badge helps them to feel safer and again, more supported and heard while at work.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): You know, as we're wrapping up this discussion, what final tips would you have for our listeners or things to watch out for that you can share on their journey to enhancing workplace safety in your organizations?

Andrea Greco: I think it really goes back to being willing to take a hard look at your organization, identify your specific needs, make the investments needed, and continue to follow-up on those both through communication, action, and follow-up. When you have a happier workforce that feels safer. They're more invested in the organization, but also we see a translation in other areas that include things like quality of patient care, employee satisfaction, and an overall impact to the bottom line.

For an organization, So, it really comes down to. Making that decision to invest in safety addressing, creating a culture of safety That is supported from leadership all the way throughout the organization, and one that you are able to then also continuously improve, address, report on, and support. Supporting your employees will gain you lots of different benefits in addition to increasing their safety at work.

Kathleen Wessel (Host): Andrea, I'd love this discussion. I wanna thank you for joining me on today's podcast and sharing your takeaways with a HA members. For our listeners, if you'd like to learn more about the a associate program or anything you've heard on this podcast today, please visit us@sponsor.aha.org. This has been an A HA Associates Bringing Value Podcast, brought to you by the American Hospital Association.

Thanks for listening.