I would like to write about one of our success stories,when we first started stophealthcareviolence. the story will show how staff and administration worked together.
We were all tired of the assaults in the ER. So many of us, were spit on, punched, slapped and so many other things happened to us.
When OSHA notified organizations about workplace violence meetings. OSHA stated that the organization  needed to start these meetings,I cant remember if it was weekly,monthly or yearly but I do remember this was what we needed. The first meeting was so full of staff members, ER nurses ,Psych nurses , floor nurses it showed administration it was time to do something. We all listened and hoped this would change things. After the meeting the three of us got together and felt this was the chance to make a change. We were the founders of Stophealthcareviolence and felt this is the opportunity we were waiting for!
WE put together  a power point presentation to show administration the need for a security guard to be in the ER 24/7. Security was always being called when we needed them and they run from one area to the ER. IT was crazy for them. They didn't even know what the call was about ,just come to the ER,a patient is out of control.
A call was put to administration to ask if could we could take 20 minutes from the next meeting to show why we needed the security. The answer was YES we could have the 20 minutes.
The day came and we were quite excited about this presentation. At the end of the presentation we were told administration would think about it! Within a short period of time we had a security guard a couple of evenings ,Friday and Saturday evenings. Before long we had the security guard 24/7 and she/he couldn't be called off the ER floor.
The security guards were the ones that saved us on numerous occasions. We had to learn from each other ,staff wasn't used to having security right there. It is a gift to work with security.
We learned at that administration does listen and is willing to work with us.
Thank You.