In 2017, the American College of Physicians said workplace violence in hospitals has become so common that healthcare officials are considering it part of the job. This has proved to be the case at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, Anthony Mojica said.
Mojica, director of services excellence, oversees safety issues and spoke at the hospital’s board of trustees meeting June 27 about safety concerns. He said a person recently brought a loaded weapon into the emergency room. He cited other safety issues including a dramatic increase in attacks against medical personnel and staffers being stalked. He said the hospital was locked down six times over the last 12 months and expects things to get even worse over the Fourth of July weekend.
“I follow up on these types of things with law enforcement and we make police reports,” Mojica said. “I’m in there with the ER staff and some of us have been threatened. They’ve threatened me and my family. These are the things we’re facing daily now.”
He said the change has taken place over the last two years.
“We’re seeing more activity with the gangs and drugs,” he said. “People are coming from other counties, for whatever reason, and hanging out here now, so we’re having to learn new things while working with the law enforcement gang task force.”
Mojica told BenitoLink the Hollister Police Department will be coming to the hospital in the near future to instruct staff on a number of gang-related issues, including identifying gang tattoos. Mojica said law enforcement has conducted walk-throughs with him at the hospital and its clinics to give advice on where to place security cameras.
“We’ll be giving law enforcement entry into a lot of our key-entry access points,” he said, “so when something does happen they’re not waiting for anybody and can come right in. We’re also training our staff in active shooter survival and tactical communication and de-escalation.”
He said the hospital administration has directed frontline staff, which includes mostly nurses, to improve lockdown procedures. According to Managed Care magazine, violence against nurses is epidemic, with more than 20% of registered nurses and nursing students reporting they have been physically assaulted. According to an American Nurses Association (ANA) survey, half of nurses responding said they have been verbally abused, many times “by patients and their family members.”
Though a common occurrence in hospitals, it’s not widely known.
“There is a very fundamental problem in U.S. healthcare that very few people speak about, and that’s the violence against healthcare workers,” said Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic in Modern Healthcare. “Daily, literally daily, we’re exposed to violent outbursts, in particular in our emergency rooms.”
Answering hospital CEO Ken Underwood’s question about the status of security personnel, Mojica said there was one guard who stood an eight-hour shift when he first came to the hospital 16 years ago. Now, he said, there is a guard on site 24 hours a day, with two guards on duty Thursday through Saturday.
“We’re increasing coverage for the Fourth of July because we’ve been led to believe there will be an influx of individuals coming during that time,” he said, “so we will have additional guards just to make sure we’re alert to what’s going on.”
He told BenitoLink this is standard procedure during any event that attracts large crowds like the motorcycle rally. Mojica said efforts to make sure the hospital is prepared include not only staying in touch with law enforcement, but contacting the local ambulance service in order to know how many EMS personnel will be available.
Underwood asked Mojica what the gold standard for security was at other hospitals. Mojica said it comes down to training.
“A friend of mine at CHOMP [Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula] said they have dogs, and they’re cool, but dogs are expensive,” he said.
Underwood asked about arming guards with “stun guns” or guns. Mojica said some hospitals do have armed guards, but most don’t.
“There’s a lot of liability there,” he said. “Not just anybody can have a stun gun or a gun. I wouldn’t trust that. We have panic buttons at all of our locations and if something comes up, they can call 911. Statistically, they end up getting the weapon taken away from them if they don’t know how to secure it.”
It seems Hazel Hawkins’ Mojica is ahead of the curve when it comes to protecting the hospital’s staff. According to ANA, at this time, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not require employers to implement workplace violence prevention programs. OSHA does, however, provide voluntary guidelines and may even cite employers for failing to provide a workplace free from recognized serious hazards. Some states, including California, have legislated that employers develop such a program.