CDC Offers Free On-line Workplace Violence Prevention Module for Healthcare Workers
Were you aware the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides a free accredited program offering continuing education credits it describes as being "designed to help healthcare workers better understand the scope and nature of violence in the workplace"?
Learning modules encompassed within CDC Course No. WB4525 include "Definition, types, and prevalence" of violence, "Prevention strategies for nurses" and "Prevention strategies for all organizations."
This course is particularly timely in light of the double homicide of 45-year-old Jaqueline Pokuaa, a nurse, and Katie Flowers, 63, a social worker, earlier this month in the maternity ward of Memorial Hospital in Dallas.
Photo curtesy of NIOSH
A brutal act of workplace violence in a hospital maternity ward.
Authorities report that Pokuaa was shot to death after she came into the hospital room to provide routine maternity treatment to the alleged shooter's girlfriend. Thereafter, Flowers was shot dead after looking into the room where Pokuaa's murder had just occurred. The perpetrator's girlfriend was also assaulted during this incident. Her newborn, who was in the room at the time, was reportedly not injured.
This active shooter episode might have resulted in more harm to other hospital employees and patients. However, the perpetrator was shot in the leg by a hospital police officer as the accused was reportedly attempting to reload his weapon.
Pointing to recent data released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dr. Serena Bumpus the CEO of the Texas Nurses Association says workplace violence has increased during the pandemic and that the risk to nurses is three times greater than "all other professions."
To learn more about the CDC's free course on workplace violence and its prevention, go here:
Sources: