Originally posted on Campus Safety Magazine.
In conjunction with implementing best safety practices and staff training, wearable panic buttons can improve nurse safety.
Healthcare workers may be providing an essential service to communities across the globe, but that doesn’t make them immune to workplace violence. In fact, their direct contact with the patients puts them at quite a high risk. The numbers can be rather staggering — in 2018 alone, healthcare workers made up 73% of all injuries experienced due to workplace violence.
As it turns out, nurses are in particular danger, especially when it comes to assault. Unfortunately, this workplace epidemic is unlikely to pass on its own. For as long as nurses have existed, they’ve had to deal with unwanted advances, inappropriate comments, touching, groping, and assault. However, wearable technology has given us a way to fight back or, at the very least, prevent assault