Purpose: This study examines changes in violent event rates to hospital employees before and after enactment of the California Hospital Safety and Security Act in 1995.

Methods: We compared pre- and post-initiative employee assault rates in California (n = 116) emergency departments and psychiatric units with those in New Jersey (n = 50), where statewide workplace violence initiatives do not exist. Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations was used to compare assault rates between a 3-year pre-enactment period (1993-1995) and a 6-year post-enactment period (1996-2001) using New Jersey hospitals as a temporal control.

Results: Assault rates among emergency department employees decreased 48% in California post-enactment, compared with emergency department employee assault rates in New Jersey (rate ratio [RR] = 0.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.31, 0.90). Emergency department employee assault rates decreased in smaller facilities (RR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.96) and for-profit-controlled hospitals (RR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.79) post-enactment. Among psychiatric units, for-profit-controlled hospitals (RR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.85) and hospitals located in smaller communities (RR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.92) experienced decreased assault rates post-enactment.

Conclusion: Policy may be an effective method to increase safety to health care workers.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2008.10.009DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

assault rates
28
employee assault
16
emergency department
12
rates
8
enactment california
8
california hospital
8
hospital safety
8
safety security
8
psychiatric units
8
department employee
8

Similar Publications

Objectives: Subway-related accidents have risen with advancements in the system. We aim to study the injury patterns from these incidents.

Methods: This is a retrospective study from a single center, covering patients from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2023.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Midfoot fractures in polytrauma patients are often an underappreciated injury relative to their other major injuries sustained. In this study, our aim was to explore the mechanisms and patterns of injury in polytrauma related midfoot fractures as compared to single limb injuries.

Setting: Multicentre observational study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: One in five college women experiences sexual assault (SA). Feminist scholars have called for the use of programming that empowers women by increasing their ability to recognize and resist SA. One such program, the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act SA Resistance Education Program (EAAA), has demonstrated lower rates of SA up to 24 months (Senn et al.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Internal displacement and cross-country migration are an increasing global phenomenon drawing the attention of politicians and the public. Causes and effects on the migrants and receptor populations are varied and often shaped by immigration laws and how migrants and refugees are being dealt with by local conditions, policy frameworks and by the host population (receptors). The massive influx of Venezuelan migrants into Colombia for more than a decade has characteristics which warrant a systematic analysis to identify contextual and individual factors favouring and hindering the well-being of migrants and their new Colombian neighbours of the receptor population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Nonlethal strangulation occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen because of external compression leading to the occlusion of the neck's blood vessels and/or airway. The current state of strangulation science confines expert testimony to merely describing injuries attributed to strangulation 'based on the expert's experience and training.' Expert testimony that can quantify the likelihood that observed injuries are attributable to strangulation would strengthen the scientific validity of such testimony.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!