Stop killers — work closely with human resources
Creating a better defense against health care workers who would harm your patients means working closely with your human resources department, but prepare yourself for a challenge. The folks in that department have their own important concerns, and you will have to cooperate if you want any meaningful change.
Peggy Nakamura, RN, MBA, JD, DFASHRM, CPHRM, assistant vice president, chief risk officer, and associate counsel at Adventist Health in Roseville, CA, says risk managers have to keep in mind that the most obvious things they want to do in this regard could be a problem for human resources. The best strategy, she says, is to get human resources on board with the idea of preventing this kind of tragedy, and then see how you can work out a solution. Remember that if you have a collective bargaining agreement, that agreement will have to be factored in to the plan.
Here are some of Nakamura's tips:
- Create a policy that requires any employee misconduct be "red flagged" in performance reviews.
- Include in performance reviews any repeated policy or procedure violations, behavioral issues, and complaints from staff.
- Make unaccounted absence from the employee's unit a serious issue that managers are required to document. Serial killers frequently are away from their assigned unit when they do harm to patients or when they are obtaining drugs.
- Require that performance reviews must include a retrospective review of the employee's involvement in incident reports, sentinel events, odd behavior, or medication administration discrepancies.
When you suspect that a staff member or physician may have intentionally harmed a patient, Nakamura says it is imperative that you act quickly. Don't wait for a confession. Seek legal counsel immediately and contact local enforcement as soon as possible.
"Your local law enforcement authorities become very edgy if you don't contact them right away," Nakamura says. "It is absolutely critical to get off on the right foot with local law enforcement. They can be a great ally if you don't send the signal that you're covering up or focused on avoiding liability."
Creating a better defense against health care workers who would harm your patients means working closely with your human resources department, but prepare yourself for a challenge.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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