After St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, CA, started its readmission reduction program, the community hospitals 30-day readmission rate for all diagnoses dropped by 37% and the 90-day readmission rate declined by 43%.
In February, Evelyn Lynch, a 70-year-old nurse at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, was removing a catheter from a patient when he suddenly knocked her to the ground and began beating and stomping on her.
Reams of surveys have documented the frequency of verbal and physical assaults in the nations emergency rooms.
The risk of violence simmers in behavioral health units across the country but it is possible to defuse that tension and prevent incidents through frequent community meetings between staff and patients.
