Veterans Health Administration's Industry-Leading Workplace Violence Prevention Program Overview and Easily Adaptable Implementation Strategies (110X)

Workplace violence costs healthcare more than $151 billion per year with an average $250,00 price tag per event, according to "Are Healthcare Professionals Optimistic About Workplace Violence," by John Chapin, PhD, and Cora Dietrich Koller, not to mention thousands of hours of lost care and services related to subsequent time off work and staff turnover. Regulatory agencies like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission have recently released new, more in-depth requirements for workplace violence prevention programs within healthcare settings. The Veterans Health Administration has been at the forefront of addressing these workplace violence prevention issues since the late 1970s and currently has the most comprehensive, evidence-based, workplace violence prevention program in American healthcare. Healthcare executives frequently look at the seemingly intractable problem of workplace violence and do not know how to move forward the workplace violence prevention effort. This analysis paralysis is common with the competing time, regulatory and financial demands on today's healthcare executives. VHA has learned from these challenges and created a modular system, which allows all organizations to start their journey toward increasing workplace safety, staff retention and improved financial outcomes for their organization. This program will:

• Provide an overview of the five key components of a best-practice workplace violence prevention program.
• Introduce a working model with matching interventions and key learning factors.
• Demonstrate how successful executive leadership ameliorates negative consequences associated with workplace violence.
• Give participants a better understanding of the next steps toward developing a workplace violence prevention program to fit their needs.
• Show how properly implemented workplace violence prevention programs can increase staff retention and satisfaction while decreasing cost over the short, mid and long range.

A checklist will provide immediate take-home tools to reduce the risk posed by workplace violence.