Attack on Hospital Staff Indicates Systematic Safety Issues

By ThinkReliability Staff

On July 13, 2015, a security counselor at a Minnesota psychiatric hospital was attacked and seriously injured by a patient. Even one injury to an employee is highly undesirable and should initiate a root cause analysis in order to reduce the risk of these types of events recurring. In the case of this hospital, this employee injury is one in a long line. In 2014, 101 staff injuries were reported at the hospital. From January to June of 2015, 68 staff injuries were reported. Clearly this is an extensive – and growing – problem at the site. According to Jennifer Munt, a spokeswoman for a union which represents 790 workers, “Workers at the security hospital feel like getting hurt has become part of the job description.”

An incident like this one can be captured within a Cause Map, or visual root cause analysis. The first step in the method is to define the problem in a problem outline. The problem outline captures the what, when and where of an incident, as well as the impact to the goals. Another important piece of information that is included is the frequency of similar events. Capturing the frequency helps provide the scope of the problem.

Understanding the details for one specific incident will likely reveal systematic issues that are impacting other similar incidents. That is definitely true in this case. Beginning with an impacted goal and asking “why” questions results in developing cause-and-effect relationships. Each cause that is determined to have contributed to an issue can lead to a possible solution. Each cause added to the Cause Map provides additional possible solutions, which, when implemented, can reduce the risk of future similar incidents.

In this case, we begin with the employee safety goal. An employee was seriously injured because of an assault by a patient at the hospital. The assault resulted from two causes, which were both required and so are joined with an “AND”. First, violent patients are housed at the facility. There were no other facilities available for the patient and the hospital is required to admit mentally ill county jail inmates because of a Minnesota law (known as the “48 hour rule” because of the time limit on admissions).

Second, clearly there was inadequate control of the patient. According to the union, limitations on the use of restraints, which are only allowed when a patient poses an “imminent risk”, mean that staff members feel that they cannot restrain patients until after they’ve been threatened – or assaulted. The union also says that inadequate staffing is leading to the increase in assaults. Specifically, union officials say at least 54 more staff members are required for the facility to be fully staffed.

The issues have caught the attention of state safety regulators and government. Multiple solutions have already been incorporated, including use of cameras, a separate admissions unit for new patients and protective equipment for staff. Additional staff is also being hired. The patient involved in the attack is isolated and under constant supervision. There’s no word yet on whether the use of mobile restraints, as requested by the union, will be allowed.

Says Jaime Tincher, Chief of Staff for Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, “These are important first steps; however we will continue to assess what additional resources are needed to improve safety and treatment at this facility.” No less would be expected for ongoing issues that have such a significant impact on employee safety.