Abstract
Objectives. Violence in the Emergency Department (ED) has been a long-standing issue complicated by deficiencies in staff training, ease of weapons access, and response availability of public safety officers. The Vocera Badge is being used by our staff to request public safety assistance in lieu of a formal phone call to the University Police Communications Center. We sought to learn if use of this technology improved officer response times to the ED. Methods. Mean response times were reviewed and descriptive statistics analyzed to determine if the use of the Vocera Badge improved public safety officer response times to the ED. Results. Average response times improved from an average of 3.2 minutes (SD = 0.456) in the 6 months before the use of the communication badges to an average of 1.02 minutes (SD = 0.319) in the 6 months after use began. Conclusions. The use of the Vocera Badge seemed to decrease response times of public safety officers to our ED compared with the traditional method of calling a dispatch center to request assistance.
Highlights
Violence in the Emergency Department (ED) has been a long-standing issue with much recognition reported in the medical literature
Firearms, knives, chemical sprays, and other weapons have all been retrieved by metal detectors installed at ED entrances according to a recent report [2]
Behnam et al found that 78% of EDs surveyed reported at least one violent act in the previous 12 months and that workplace violence in the ED was more common in those EDs with annual volumes over 60,000 patients [3]
Summary
Violence in the Emergency Department (ED) has been a long-standing issue with much recognition reported in the medical literature. Cited contributing factors to ED violence include deficiencies in ED staffing and training; ease of access of weapons in the ED; and the lack of helpfulness, lack of presence, and delayed response times of public safety officers [1]. Behnam et al found that 78% of EDs surveyed reported at least one violent act in the previous 12 months and that workplace violence in the ED was more common in those EDs with annual volumes over 60,000 patients [3]. Indicators of potential violence and difficult behaviors are being identified [4] which will hopefully lead to timelier request for public safety or law enforcement personnel presence. Nursing and other staff identification of what constitutes violence may be taken for granted as “just part of my job” resulting in underreporting [5]
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