The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Center for Clinical Standards and Quality published a memo on workplace violence in hospitals that covers steps for hospitals and administrators to take to create a safe setting for providing patient care. The memo was sent to state survey agency directors on November 28, 2022. It discusses the scope of the problem and ways to address it, such as:
- providing sufficient staffing levels
- conducting ongoing assessments of patients and residents for aggressive behavior and indicators to adapt their care interventions and environment appropriately
- demonstrating how the hospital identifies patients at risk of self-harm or harm to others and steps the hospital is taking to minimize those risks following nationally recognized standards and guidelines
- providing the appropriate level of education and training to staff and volunteers regarding the identification of patients at risk of harm to self or others, the identification of environmental patient safety risk factors, and mitigation strategies
- creating an emergency preparedness plan based on, and including, a facility-based and community-based risk assessment, utilizing an all-hazards approach
The memo states, "CMS will continue to enforce the regulatory expectations that patients and staff have an environment that prioritizes their safety to ensure effective delivery of healthcare."
Read the CMS memo