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Health care workers interact closely with their patients/clients and their families, often under difficult circumstances. Patients/clients may act aggressively due to their medical condition or the medication they are taking. They may also have a history of violent behaviour, or feel frustrated and angry as a result of their circumstances.
| Working with Dementia: Safe work practices for caregivers |
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This video portrays situations care workers might encounter when caring for a person with dementia, and it shows caregivers how to respond to similar situations in order to stay safe and support the person with dementia.
Source: WorkSafeBC 
* Video |
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| Leave When It's Unsafe |
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This video illustrates the hazards of working alone in the community with aggressive and potentially violent patients, and it reviews what workers need to do in response to these hazards in order to stay safe.
Source: WorkSafeBC
* Video |
| Communicate Patient Information: Prevent violence-related injuries to health care and social services workers |
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This bulletin concerns the requirements related to patient privacy and worker health and safety that are set out by the Workers Compensation Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Source: WorkSafeBC
* PDF (137 KB)
Dated: June 2011 |
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| Dementia: Understanding risks and preventing violence |
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This book provides information on preventing or minimizing the risk of injury to workers when caring for people with dementia, through clinical care interventions and approaches and a framework for incorporating the OHS Regulation into clinical care.
Source: WorkSafeBC
* PDF (957 KB)
Dated: October 2010
* Order print version |
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| Preventing Violence in Health Care: Five steps to an effective program |
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This handbook is designed to help health care organizations to develop, implement, and maintain effective workplace violence prevention programs or to improve existing programs.
Source: WorkSafeBC
* PDF (670 KB)
Updated: December 2005 |
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| Violence is Not Part of Your Job |
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This poster is a reminder that violence is not part of a health care worker's job.
Source: WorkSafeBC
* PDF (2.8 MB)
Dated: July 2009 |
External Resources
The following links list tools, publications, and other resources to help prevent violence in the workplace. These resources may not meet all the requirements for health and safety in British Columbia. Please check the Workers Compensation Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, and related materials for specific WorkSafeBC requirements.
Delirium in the Older Person: Family guide (DVD)
This DVD contains information about delirium in the older person, and specific care information for acute care, home and community care, residential care, and delirium at end of life.
Source: Vancouver Island Health Authority MMS
HTML
* More delirium resources from Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Guidelines: Code White Response
A component of prevention and management of aggressive behaviour in health care.
Source: WorkSafeBC ,
OHSAH, and the Health Association of BC
* PDF (299 KB)
Dated: April 2002
Responding to Aggression in Long-term Care: Lessons from five case studies
This three-year study into the problems of aggression within five of British Columbia's long-term care facilities surveyed employees and examined incident reports and WorkSafeBC claims statistics. The study's findings recommend that employers use a systems approach to develop prevention and risk management strategies to reduce incidence of aggression in the workplace. These strategies should include education and training, policy and procedures, teamwork and environmental controls.
Source: WorkSafeBC
and Healthcare Benefit Trust
* PDF (732 KB)
Dated: April 2004
Bullying in the Workplace: A handbook for the workplace
Although other types of violence receive more media attention, workplace bullying has increasingly been the focus of researchers, employers, unions, and health and safety professionals. Health care and community care organizations need new tools to improve their violence prevention strategies including methods to address workplace bullying.
Source: Ontario Safety Association for Community and Healthcare
* PDF (732 KB)
When It's Right in Front of You: Assisting health care workers to manage the effects of violence in rural and remote Australia
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has developed this manual for health care workers, managers, and employer organizations in rural and remote Australia, to help them prepare for and respond to violence in ways that will minimize its impact.
Source: National Health and Medical Research Council Australia
* PDF (645 KB)
Dated: 2002
Standards for Hospital-Based Psychiatric Emergency Services: Observation Units
Standards for the safe management of patients with mental illness.
Source: BC Ministry of Health
* PDF (165 KB)
Dated: March 2000
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