UC’s College of Nursing awarded $1.3 million research grant to bolster emergency room safety

The University of Cincinnati’s College of Nursing is just about to help make emergency rooms safer.

Thanks to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UC’s College of Nursing has received a $1.3 million grant to conduct research on curtailing violence against direct care providers – physicians, nurses and aides – in hospital emergency departments.

A sobering fact: 60% of all workplace assaults took place in health care environments in 2006, largely patient against doctor. 

This disturbing trend lends a sense of urgency to the research, which aims to study the increase in emergency room violence, and more importantly, find dependable intervention methods to neutralize tense situations before they take a violent turn. 

UC researchers will collaborate with the emergency departments of six hospitals nationwide to track violent behavior in emergency rooms, test potential intervention techniques, and later check for hopeful improvements in safety for the doctors, nurses and aides who save countless lives in emergency rooms across the country.
 
Writer: Jonathan DeHart

Source: University of Cincinnati