General Practice Teams Respond To Medical Workplace Violence, Australia

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 30 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is launching a new resource and education materials designed to support practice teams to create safe working environments, prevent violent incidents and decrease the impact of violence when it occurs.

The new educational resource General Practice - A safe place: tips and tools and an accompanying online education module will be launched on Monday 30 March from 6:30pm - 7:30pm at the Dandenong Casey General Practice Association (DCGPA), Victoria.

"General practice is and should be a safe and secure place to work. However, it is disturbing to know that 2 out of 3 GPs will experience some form of occupational violence at some point in their working lives," said Dr Chris Mitchell, RACGP President and GP in Northern NSW.

"Internationally there has been increasing interest in patient-initiated violence in the health care sector. The tragic death of Dr Khulod Maarouf-Hassan in 2006 and other high profile tragedies in recent years have highlighted the potential seriousness of patient-initiated violence," said Dr Mitchell.

These new learning materials have been developed with financial assistance from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and outline a range of practical strategies to assist general practices to appropriately minimise risks of violence, including the means to create a safe physical environment.

A free copy of the General Practice - A safe place: tips and tools booklet will be sent to every practice in Australia. The booklet and an accompanying education module, which includes case studies and responses, are also available through the RACGP website at www.racgp.org.au/gpsafeplace

"While serious physical assaults on GPs and practice staff are rare, many GPs have experienced threatening and aggressive behaviour. Patient-initiated violence can have a serious and widespread impact on the staff members involved, the broader practice team, the community as a whole, as well as the perpetrator", said Dr Mitchell.

"For practice staff, violence can result in reduced productivity and satisfaction, and less participation in the medical workforce. Workplace culture is an important factor of how the practice team responds to the consequences of patient-initiated violence. It is important that GPs and practice teams do not need to accept violence and aggression as 'just part of the job'. General practice is and should be a safe and secure place to work.

"With the launch of this new resource and education materials, we encourage practice teams to boost their skills in creating a safe workplace for themselves and their patients. We anticipate that these training materials will be used as a tool to encourage discussion within general practice teams about appropriate responses to manage the risk of occupational violence," said Dr Mitchell.

These new educational materials outline effective risk control measures that are:

- inclusive of the whole practice team, including reception staff, practices nurses, the practice manager and general practitioners;
- pre-planned and preventive in approach;
- multi-dimensional, encompassing environmental, patient-directed and practice team-directed strategies.

Acknowledgments

The RACGP would like to thank the following individuals and organisations who generously contributed their time and expertise to this project:

- Adjunct Professor Leanne Rowe AM, project leader and GP consultant to the project
- The Dandenong Casey General Practice Association who generously worked with the RACGP and contributed their materials
- Individual GPs, practice nurses and practice managers who helped refine the material contained in General practice - a safe place
- Melbourne Medical Locum Service, Associate Professor Moira Sim and her colleagues at the Osborne GP Network Ltd and Edith Cowan University

About this event

This event will take place on Monday 30 March 2009, 6.30 pm - 7.30 pm at the Dandenong Casey General Practice Association (DCGPA), 314B Thomas Street, Dandenong, Victoria. Refreshments provided.

Speakers include: Dr Morton Rawlin, Melbourne GP and RACGP Vice President and Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, Melbourne GP and immediate past-President of the AMA and current member of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission.

About the RACGP

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is responsible for maintaining standards for quality clinical practice, education and training, and research in Australian general practice. The RACGP represents the majority of Australia's urban and rural general practitioners.

GP'09 - The Conference for General Practice
A doctor for all seasons
1-4 October 2009, Perth Western Australia
http://www.gpevents.com.au

Source
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

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