Workplace violence prevention for healthcare workers-an online course.

Purpose: Workplace assaults against healthcare workers originate from many sources, but are predominantly committed by patients. Therefore, training in strategies for preventing patient-on-nurse violence is very important throughout a nurse's career.

Methods: The online course described in this article presents prevention strategies from the institutional and individual levels. These are reinforced by video case studies of five real-life incidents with key learning points discussed.

Results: The physical and psychological consequences of workplace assaults can result in higher absenteeism, increased turnover, decreased job satisfaction, lower productivity, and a host of other negative outcomes.

Discussion: Preventing these negative outcomes is beneficial to the nurse, the patients, and the organization. This course provides a convenient interactive tool that uses units approximately 20 minutes in duration with stop and pick up where you left off capabilities.

Conclusion: The free online course will be available starting in the summer or fall of 2012.