Safety in NY Hospitals

In which borough should your idea take place? Brooklyn

Do you have a specific neighborhood(s) in mind?

Coney Island

Describe the challenge you want to address:

Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare continues to rise in the country and NYC, it impacts staff as well as other patients and visitors both directly and indirectly. Currently there are no standardized tools/equipment (e.g. crash cart, airway box etc.) to support clinicians in their ability to safely and swiftly meet patient care needs, in violent situations that may be life threatening to staff and/or the patient/s. Furthermore, WPV (customer/client) leads to employee injuries, absenteeism, increased intent to leave, low morale, and post-traumatic stress for victims and/or witnesses. This issue needs to be addressed on a high level with internal and external support, to ensure success in promoting safety for all.

Describe your idea and approach to address the challenge:

Through research, develop a crisis utility belt to be implemented by licensed clinicians in unsafe situations that present an immediate threat of serious physical injury or death to the patient and/or others. The crisis utility belt would afford easy access to clinical resources required in critically unsafe situations, where attempted de-escalation techniques were unsuccessful. This standardized intervention will be studied in order to determine: 1. Impact as a countermeasure to violence/harm 2. Quality of mode/contents 3. Impact on clinical workflow 4. Rate of utilization 5. Cost Benefit Analysis. This research project will lead to an innovative resource that allows for rapid care during high risk events, promoting safety for all in the healthcare setting.

Write the zipcode that best represents your New York City community:

11235